Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) has entered into collaboration with Sequans Communications, a 4G chipmaker, to extend Time Division-Long Term Evolution, or “TD-LTE,” ecosystem to operators in Asia and Europe who are planning to offer services at 2.6 GHz. 

Sequans supplies LTE and WiMAX (News - Alert) chips to equipment manufacturers and mobile operators worldwide.

“Through this partnership, we are exhibiting our commitment to creating a vibrant LTE ecosystem and to supporting operator goals of demonstrating the value of TD-LTE in delivering advanced services to end users,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO, in a statement.

As the first trail, a Sequans 2.6 GHz USB dongle will be used in operator trials in 2010, company officials said.

Alcatel-Lucent has been the promising partner for several LTE deployments in the region. The company was selected by China Mobile (News - Alert) to deploy China Mobile's demonstration network at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, beginning of May, using Sequans TD-LTE chips and USB dongles at 2.3 GHz.

Recently Bouygues Telecom selected Alcatel-Lucent’s LTE solution for a trial of mobile broadband services. This trial is intended to evaluate the performance of LTE services in the 1800 MHz spectrum band, said company officials.

“We are committed to working closely with operators in Asia and Europe to support their LTE strategies,” said Doug Wolff (News - Alert), vice president, Alcatel-Lucent 4G/LTE Solutions, in a statement. “Our collaboration with Sequans, a truly innovative and accomplished 4G semiconductor supplier, will yield valuable TD-LTE solutions.”

Alcatel-Lucent is actively engaged in the majority of LTE projects being pursued by tier 1 operators around the globe. 

In another recent development, Alcatel-Lucent, along with Ericsson, was selected by AT&T (News - Alert) as equipment suppliers for the planned deployment of its LTE mobile broadband network.