Dutch national telecom operator KPN Telecom will use Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies' Windows driver model (WDM) gear to build out its next-generation network, allowing the Chinese vendor to add another major European carrier to its growing customer list.

News of the deal came just days after KPN announced it was to buy rival Dutch mobile operator Telfort B.V., which made news last year by awarding its third-generation infrastructure contract to Huawei.

That acquisition means Huawei now has a supply relationship with KPN for both fixed and mobile infrastructure.

Huawei said it's the sole supplier of WDM gear for KPN's new project, but wouldn't put a value on the deal, or say which other vendors it beat out. However, European media reported that Alcatel and KPN's incumbent WDM equipment supplier, Nortel Networks, were also bidding for the business.

Huawei is the "only supplier for this upgrade. Huawei provided a convincing technical and financial proposition," said a KPN spokesman, who declined to provide any further details.

The optical equipment deal will further boost Huawei's European sales, which it said were on course to triple to US$600 million this year, compared with last year. The company has landed a number of notable contracts in the region this year, with its optical and access equipment success at BT Group grabbing the most attention.

Such success and the growing international sales of Huawei's domestic rivals, UTStarcom and ZTE Corp., were causing anxiety among the telecom market's incumbent vendors, industry analysts said.

(Shenzhen Daily July 4, 2005)