Ericsson has landed two contracts worth $1.8 billion with Chinese operators China Mobile and China Unicom to build out the their respective wireless networks.

Ericsson will provide China Mobile with radio access network equipment, including a multi-standard base station and mobile soft switching technology, to boost the network’s capacity and evolve it into an IP network. The deal is worth $1 billion.

Ericsson’s $800 million deal with China Unicom covers the deployment of a 3G, HSPA network and an expansion of its IP equipment contracts with the operator. Both the deals with China Mobile and China Unicom will happen this year.

Mats Olsson, who heads up Ericsson’s operations in China, called the new deals with China Mobile and China Unicom “significant.”

“We are confident that we will do an even better job in supplying the latest technology and best-in-class services in time to support Chinese operators in fulfilling the demand of this tremendous market growth,” he said in a statement.

Mobile technology is growing steadily throughout China, which currently has a penetration rate of just 56.3 percent. In 2009 alone, the country’s operators added 106 million new subscribers, bringing China’s customer base to 747 million.

Ericsson estimates China’s potential customer base to be 1.3 billion.