Spanish operator Telefonica plans to roll out a nationwide LTE network in Spain and has selected Ericsson as a technology partner for this network. Ericsson  is selected as vendor for the cities of Madrid and Barcelona, among others.

Within the agreement, Ericsson will build the network in Madrid and Barcelona, rolling out about 1000 nodes in 2013, in order to support Telefonica's goal to take 4G to as many customers as possible already this year.

Telefonica expects to roll out around 2200 nodes in 2013 and will reach 3000 by Q1 2014. They are aiming to cover about 60 major cities across Spain.

The new network will be rolled out in the 1800MHZ band and include the roll out of Ericsson's multi-standard technology RBS6000.

Operator has also signed Alcatel-Lucent as a reference supplier for its 4G LTE network in Spain, company announced yesterday.