Alcatel-Lucent on Monday said it received a contract to deploy and maintain third-generation mobile networks for Chinese telecommunications provider China Unicom in 14 of the country's provinces.

Alcatel-Lucent did not disclose the value of the contract, which will give some of Hong Kong-based China Unicom's cell phone customers faster speeds for surfing the Web and watching video on their phones.

The Paris-based company said it expects the first six networks to be finished in May, in the cities of Tianjin, Baoding, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Guiyang and Guilin.

Alcatel-Lucent already operates some second-generation wireless networks in China, and in a statement it called new deals for networks in the provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Heilongjiang and Jiangsu a "strategic breakthrough."

The company, formed when Alcatel SA bought U.S.-based Lucent Technologies Inc. in 2006, said it will also build out the so-called 3G networks in Hebei, Guangxi, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Guangdong, Hunan, Shandong and Xinjiang provinces.