Huawei has inked a 5-year deal with UK-based telecom operator Vodafone to participate, together with Ericsson and Nokia Solutions & Networks, in the £7-billion (US$11.7 billion; US$1=£0.5974) project aimed at upgrading the operator's networks in Europe and Africa, as reported by the Wall Street Journal on March 6. The so-called Project Spring will last for the next two years until March 2016, with main focus on 3G and 4G network capacity, fiber-optical cable rollout, and storage upgrading. The project is currently in the first phase, centered on mobile networks. However, Huawei's contract value in the deal is yet disclosed.