* Wind signs 5-year deal with Huawei, Sirti for 4G network
* Wind expects to invest 1 billion euros
* Huawei already supplier of T.Italia, Vodafone, 3 Italia
MILAN, April 12 (Reuters) - Italian mobile phone operatorWind is to spend 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) on building afourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband network to step upcompetition to rivals Telecom Italia and Vodafone.
The investment will use technology from Italy's Sirti andHuawei Technologies, the firms said in a statement onFriday, giving a boost to the Chinese telecoms equipment makeras it battles for work on 4G networks across Europe.
"This new considerable investment follows last year'spurchase of the LTE (Long Term Evolution) frequencies," WindChief Executive Maximo Ibarra said, referring to frequencies fordelivering faster communications.
The deal will last five years, a Huawei spokesperson added.
Wind, which is owned by VimpelCom, is thethird-largest mobile telecoms operator in Italy, where it alsocompetes with Hutchison Whampoa's 3 Italia.
Huawei is already a supplier of the three other Italianmobile phone companies and has won 4G contracts with EE inBritain and Vodafone in Germany. However, it continues to beshut out of the U.S. market over security concerns.
Ericsson remains a leader in terms of globaltelecoms equipment, with Nokia Siemens Networks andHuawei jostling for a second place while Alcatel-Lucent, which has a focus on the United States, is losingground because of its traditional weakness in Europe.
Vodafone (VOD)
