BEIJING - Motorola Inc. will supply $1.6 billion worth of mobile phones to a Chinese distributor, executives from the companies said Monday.

Shenzhen Telling Telecom Development Co., a unit of Shenzhen-listed Jiangxi Gannan Fruit Co., will buy 12 million mobile phones from the U.S.-based company next year, said Yan Siqing, Shenzhen Telling's chief of operations.

Mary Lamb, a spokeswoman for Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola, confirmed that the two companies had signed a memorandum of understanding for the deal Monday.

No further details were given.