Chinese telecom equipment provider ZTE recently announced that the company has signed a cooperation agreement with Hong Kong-based telecom operator CSL, whereby they will jointly deploy a commercial network based on LTE (Long Term Evolution)/UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), the Sina News reported on September 3.

This network boasts to provide a maximum downlink speed of 100 megabytes per second and is slated for  commercialization in 2010. CSL stated that the company plans to deliver LTE services by upgrading its current infrastructure for 2G/3G services, rather than install separate equipment for LTE services, according to the same source. Financial details of the deal, however, were not yet disclosed.