Mexico has invited six networking equipment manufacturers to take part in field tests for a new national mobile broadband network, according to Jose Ignacio Peralta, Deputy Communications Minister .

The six companies include Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, NEC, Nokia and ZTE, however the minister stressed the invitations did not mean all six companies would be participating in the tests, which will help collect real-time information about a LTE network in the 700 MHz frequency band.

Mexico’s government, which estimates the network will require an investment of about USD 10 billion over 10 years, is aiming to publish the initial terms of the tender to build and run the network in December and pick a winner in mid-2015.