1:40 PM -- Is there any piece of Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) that isn't working with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. these days?

The Spanish carrier -- which has multiple operations throughout Europe (including its O2 business units) and Latin America, as well as a slice of the Chinese service provider market -- is increasingly turning to Huawei for next-generation hardware and software solutions, it seems. (See Telefónica Boosts Chinese Ties.)

The two companies are already working together on fixed broadband access, home gateways, IP conferencing, long-haul optical, 3G mobile, and femtocells. (See Vodafone, O2 Test Femtocells, Huawei Deploys Ubiquity, Telefónica Deploys Huawei DWDM, and Huawei Opens in Spain.)

Now the carrier has signed a "framework contract" to deploy a Huawei Service Delivery Platform (SDP) that will be used by Telefónica’s Latin American operations in 13 countries. The SDP will be used to launch services such as "universal e-mail, mobile newspapers, 3G messaging solutions or advertising on mobile phones," and is set to be used for services that can be offered over both fixed and mobile access lines for residential and business users. (See Telefónica Uses Huawei SDP.)

Huawei hasn't spent a lot of time shouting about its SDP capabilities, though it was involved in one of the more impressive multi-vendor service management projects, which also included several carriers (though not Telefónica) at an OSS event a few years back. (See Firms Unite for SDP Project.)

The Chinese vendor, though, signaled its intent to be a bigger force in telecom software last year when it created an independent operation, Huawei Software Technologies Co. (See Huawei Goes Indie for OSS.)

The true test of Huawei's SDP capabilities will come if Telefónica extends the use of the SDP into Europe, and if another major carrier follows suit and turns to the bullish vendor for its all-important applications management platform. (See Huawei Predicts 29% Growth in 2009.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International News Editor, Light Reading