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Franco-U.S. telecommunications equipment company Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) Tuesday said it received two contracts from China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) for the deployment of fiber and mobile networks in one of the few markets still growing during the economic slump.

Alcatel-Lucent was selected as China Mobile's sole supplier for the deployment of a fiber-to-the-home network in 10 Chinese cities, for which China Mobile will deploy Alcatel-Lucent's gigabit passive optical networking, or GPON, solution in the Chinese provinces of Anhui and Guangdong to deliver ultra-high-speed services to residential and business users.

In a separate statement Tuesday, Alcatel-Lucent said it has been selected, together with Datang Mobile, to deploy China Mobile's Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access, or TD-SCDMA, mobile networks in 11 Chinese provinces. TD-SCDMA is a relatively new technology developed mainly in China.

Alcatel-Lucent and Datang Mobile, a unit of Datang Telecom Technology Ltd. (600198.SH), have had a strategic partnership since 2004 to develop TD-SCDMA solutions in China. The consortium's new win expands its overall market presence to 16 out of 31 provincial markets in China, Alcatel-Lucent said in a statement.

Alcatel-Lucent didn't provide financial details of the deals but a spokeswoman said the deals were part of the $1 billion framework agreement signed with China Mobile in April.

The company in April reached deal with China Mobile, the world's largest mobile operator with more than 400 million subscribers, to supply second generation solutions and third generation equipment based on the TD-SCDMA technology.

In April, it also received a contract to supply $700 million of third-generation equipment based on a standard called CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, to China Telecom Corp. Ltd (CHA).

Deals in China are key for Alcatel-Lucent as the Chinese market is one where operators are investing massive amounts of money to upgrade their networks and which has turned into a major sales growth hope for telecom equipment vendors.

Western gear companies like Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia Siemens Networks (NOK, SI) and LM Ericsson Telephone Co.(ERIC) have been aiming for a slice of the investment in improving the networks as demand in other parts of the world is hit by the recession and as western operators focus on preserving cashflow.

An analyst at Cheuvreux said in April, after Alcatel-Lucent announced the contract wins in China, the deals increase the company's footprint in the growing region and help lay the path for its future success with the inevitable leap to fourth generation gear in 2010.

Company Web site: www.alcatel-lucent.com

-By Ruth Bender, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40 17 17 40; ruth.bender@dowjones.com