India's Idea extends and expands managed services agreement with Ericsson
- Three-year contract to manage 2G and 3G networks, as well as field operations
- Ericsson becomes the largest managed services partner for Idea Cellular
- From one circle (or telecom service areas) to five circles
Idea Cellular, the leading mobile services operator in India with 100 million subscribers, has signed an agreement for Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) to provide it with managed services in five circles: Mumbai, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, North East, and Assam. Ericsson's first managed services contract with Idea was signed in 2007 and the partnership between the two companies has now been extended from one circle to five circles. Ericsson will focus on ensuring better network availability and superior customer experience from Idea's 2G and 3G mobile networks.
As the IT and telecom industries increasingly overlap, opportunities arise for operators to innovate and enter new business models and partnerships. To meet these evolving needs among operators, Ericsson has been developing its ICT competence at its Global Service Center (GSC) in India. This GSC, which is now Ericsson's largest network operation center in the world and has a huge talent pool of more than 5,000 professionals covering all areas of our services portfolio, will play a key role in managing Idea's network. As part of the agreement, about 70 Idea employees will join Ericsson India.
Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea Cellular, says: "Ericsson is our preferred and largest partner in 2G and 3G operations and will now become our largest managed services partner, too. Ericsson has unmatched global expertise in managed services, with an impressive portfolio. We are confident that this alliance will enable us to optimize our networks and deliver the best services to our customers. This deal will allow us to focus on creating competitive, attractive and appealing offerings for our consumers."
Fredrik Jejdling, President and Head of Region India, Ericsson, says: "We aim to use our considerable resources in India to optimize Idea's networks, thereby ensuring the availability of superior quality services for their subscribers. We welcome the employees who are joining us from Idea. Today, managed services is one of the fastest-growing areas in the telecom industry. With this association, we will gain valuable competence to help us build our services business further."
Under this three-year agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for managing network and field operations, operation and maintenance activities for 2G and 3G sites, network design and planning, network performance improvement, and program management for infrastructure.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About Ericsson's Managed Services offering
Ericsson has the telecom industry's most comprehensive managed services offering. It ranges from designing, building, operating and managing day-to-day operations of a customer's network, including end-user services and business-support systems, to hosting service-layer solutions and providing network coverage and capacity on demand. As the undisputed leader in managed services, Ericsson has officially announced more than 100 contracts for managed services with operators worldwide since 2002. In all current managed services contracts, excluding hosting, Ericsson is managing networks that together serve more than 900 million subscribers worldwide.
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http://www.ericsson.com/thecompany/press/mediakits/services
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http://www.ericsson.com/thecompany/press/releases/2012/02/1589023
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