Sprint Nextel awarded a $ 5 billion deal to Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Samsung for network upgrade and cutting down costs.

Sprint said that its total savings from the contract will be $ 11 billion over a seven year period.

"Fundamentally the network performance improves dramatically," Bob Azzi, a senior vice president for Sprint told Reuters. "Customers will notice the difference."

Other vendors in the fray included Huawei and ZTE.

"Being selected by Sprint as a major technology supplier is a great honor and major accomplishment for Ericsson," said Angel Ruiz, head of Ericsson's North American operations. "We look forward to working with Sprint to help enhance their customer experience through the Network Vision program."

"We have been very pleased with the success of our Network Advantage managed services program in partnership with Ericsson," said Steve Elfman, president, Network Operations & Wholesale, Sprint. "It's a natural fit for us to include Ericsson in this important network evolution project as we prepare to deliver the next generation of mobility for our customers."

As part of the deal Ericsson will build a complete network infrastructure solution for roughly one third of the nation's geography for Sprint markets largely in the central and south east regions of the country, including Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Kansas City and Dallas.