Mobile telecoms equipment makers Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL] won a key deal on Wednesday to supply next generation LTE network to Nordic operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST) in Norway and Sweden.

Nokia Siemens Networks replaced rival Huawei [HWT.UL], which was involved in TeliaSonera's original network rollout in the capitals of the two Nordic countries.

The equipment vendors are battling for the first major orders for the next generation LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks -- something they can use as a reference to win new orders.

Telecom operators are expected to spend billions of euros on LTE networks as data traffic in their current networks has exploded due to the surge in take-up of mobile data cards.

In December TeliaSonera launched the world's first commercial LTE service in Oslo and Stockholm.

Ericsson is considered to be the leading player in LTE technology, but Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA), Huawei, Motorola (MOT.N) and Nokia Siemens have also won major LTE orders.

Source:Reuters