Wind, the Italian mobile phone operator, is now investing US$1.3 billion to build a fourth generation mobile broadband network to become more competitive against rivals Vodafone and Telecom Italia.

The telecommunications technologies from Sirti of Italy and Huawei Technologies would be used for this investment in the Italian market, according to a statement from the companies. This gives a boost to the Chinese telecommunications services and equipment firm as it tries to gain a foothold in the European 4G network market.

In a statement by Wind CEO Maximo Ibarra, "This new considerable investment follows last year's purchase of LTE or Long Term Evolution frequencies."

According Huawei, the deal would be for five years. The firm is also the supplier for three other mobile phone operators in Italy and has landed 4G contracts with British firm EE and Vodafone for Germany. It is still being shut out of US markets over national security concerns.