Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. ( ALU - Analyst Report ) entered into an agreement with Etisalat on Tuesday at the Barcelona Mobile world congress.

As per the terms of the deal, ALU with its Light Radio solutions will help Etisalat extend its new 4G LTE service across Srilanka. This will enable Etisalat’s customers to enjoy extraordinary broadband connectivity for High definition contents like mobile TV, Video calling, and Video conferencing including multimedia applications.

The agreement was signed by the CEOs of both the companies in the presence of regional heads of Etisalat Lanka and Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pacific.

Etisalat is amongst the top Telecom groups in the Middle East and is expanding rapidly across Asia. Its operations are spread across 15 countries with more than 139 million customer base. At Present, Etisalat is one of the fastest mobile services provider across Srilanka. Now with this agreement, 4G LTE broadband connectivity will be an addition to its portfolio.

As per Alcatel-Lucent, almost 95% of the population in Srilanka has Wireless device. This makes Srilanka a very promising market for the new 4G LTE services. Alcatel-Lucent will be active in providing Etisalat, the network solutions backed by its years of expertise in mobile broadband infrastructure.

Alcatel-Lucent’s light Radio technology accompanied by Bell Labs Technology will be used for this purpose. With a history of tremendous success in the 3G services, Etisalat is confident with 4G LTE service to meet the rapidly growing customer demand for fast internet services.

Therefore, this agreement, which also includes a partnership in Srilanka, is expected to benefit both the companies, especially Alcatel-Lucent, which is likely to experience improvement in its operations in Asia-Pacific.

Recently, Alcatel received a 8-year contract from Indian based Reliance Communications to manage its mobile and fixed networks in the southern and eastern regions of India. The contract valued at $1 billion is primarily aimed to cut costs and improve efficiencies for Reliance Communications.

Presently Alcatel-Lucent has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), whereas two of its competitors, Cisco Systems Inc ( CSCO - Analyst Report ) and LM Ericsson Telephone Company ( ERIC - Analyst Report ) , have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).