Alcatel-Lucent today announced agreements valued at 750 million Euros (approximately $1.1 billion) with both China Mobile and China Unicom, secured through the company's China-based (and partly China-owned) subsidiary Alcatel Shanghai Bell.

"The solutions Alcatel-Lucent is providing are enabling China Mobile and China Unicom to dramatically expand the capacity and coverage of their mobile networks so that they can continue to meet the robust demand for mobile services in China," according to a company announcement.

"Network suppliers have had a rough end to the year so far, with price competition and declining sales hurting margins, but emerging markets like China are clearly still ready to spend on lucrative next-generation upgrades," notes Forbes' Lionel Laurent.

More here from The Inquirer ... more here from Reuters ... and the press release is here.