Wellington, May 10: Mobile phone giant Vodafone Group confirmed on Monday that it has chosen Nokia to build its third-generation (3G) network in Australia and New Zealand. The Finnish telecoms equipment giant Nokia had been tipped last month to win the multi-million dollar deal for high-speed new networks.

No price was disclosed for the deal, but previous media reports have priced the deal at NZ$397 million ($245 million) in New Zealand and "substantially more" in Australia.

Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone group by revenue, said four vendors tendered for the deal, with Nokia being the most competitive.

Vodafone said it would commit "substantial funding" to upgrade its networks. It gave no timetable for the building of a full 3G network, or when it might introduce some 3G services. Third generation networks allow the delivery of more data, including video, faster to mobile devices.

Vodafone already offers 3G services in the advanced Japanese mobile market and plans to offer similar services, such as videophones, in Europe in the second half of this year.

Nokia, the world's largest cell phone handset maker, trails Swedish rival Ericsson in the networks equipment market. But it says it has helped build nine out of the 21 commercially launched 3G networks around the globe. Bureau Report