Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent won more of the emerging market for LTE wireless network technology in the third quarter, helped by their strong position in the United States, researcher Dell'Oro said.

Ericsson controlled 44 percent of the $647 million market in the third quarter, while Alcatel's share rose to 30 percent, Dell'Oro said on Wednesday.

U.S. operators Verizon Wireless and AT&T are the first major operators to build large LTE networks, with Ericsson and Alcatel supplying gear to both carriers.

China's Huawei, a distant No 3 on the market, saw its share shrinking to 8 percent, with Nokia Siemens Networks the fourth.

Equipment vendors are trying to win as many early LTE deals as possible to use them as a reference for other deals.

Operators are expected to invest tens of billions of euros over coming years in the new LTE networks which will offer faster data transfer and additional capacity for their crammed airwaves.

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