HELSINKI, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.S. telecoms operator AT&T ( T )

and Finnish network equipment maker Nokia have

signed a multi-year expansion agreement to upgrade AT&T's ( T ) voice

carriage and 5G network automation in the U.S., the Finnish

company said on Tuesday.

The deal comes a year after Nokia lost a major contract with

AT&T ( T ) to its Swedish rival Ericsson, which the U.S.

operator chose at the end of 2023 to build a telecoms network

that will cover 70% of its wireless traffic in the United States

by late 2026.

After AT&T's ( T ) $14 billion five-year deal with Ericsson, Nokia

announced in September a smaller five-year deal with AT&T ( T ) to

build a fibre network in the U.S., before locking a second one

on Tuesday for cloud-based voice core applications and the use

of Nokia's network automation software.

"This is an important deal for Nokia, reinforcing the strong

and longstanding relationship between Nokia and AT&T ( T ), and

covering multiple years and technologies that will enable new 5G

functionality," Raghav Sahgal, president of Cloud and Network

Services at Nokia, told Reuters in an email.

Nokia said the upgrade to AT&T's ( T ) core network would enable

new voice services, such as the integration of AI and machine

learning capabilities.

The companies declined to reveal the value of the deal.

"We are pleased to continue our relationship with Nokia to

further optimize our network operations and enable new services

that better support our customers' evolving needs," Senior Vice

President Yigal Elbaz of AT&T's ( T ) Technology & Network

Services said.

Last week, Nokia reported stronger-than-expected

fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit and sales, helped by

higher demand for telecoms gear from mobile operators in North

America and India, and was upbeat about 2025 prospects.

To tap the artificial intelligence boom, Nokia agreed to buy

Infinera ( INFN ) in a $2.3 billion deal last year to gain from

the billions of dollars in investment pouring into data centres

such as the $500 billion Stargate project backed by OpenAI,

SoftBank and Oracle.