TeliaSonera signs a five-year Managed Services deal with the Metsäliitto Group and the Vapo Group

TeliaSonera has signed a five-year Managed Services agreement, starting today, with the international forest industry group Metsäliitto and its associated company the Vapo Group. TeliaSonera will provide managed fixed and mobile voice and data services as well as related value-added services for the Nordic and Baltic operations of the Metsäliitto Group and the Vapo Group. The purpose of this agreement is to establish a cost-effective, functional and high-quality Nordic and Baltic voice communication solution and high-quality wide area network solution for Metsäliitto and Vapo. The solution is based on the customer’s needs and requirements as well as on the latest available technology. The purpose of the new managed voice services is to rationalize the current technical environment in order to reduce, as much as possible, any unnecessary overlapping costs of the voice infrastructure. The joint target is to minimise the number of desk phones by directing both Groups’ end-users towards a 'one-phone’ concept and mobility, thus enabling more efficient communication. This agreement also covers both Groups’ regional needs for a common, wide area network (WAN), data-secure broadband-based access to the Internet and related value-added services. “The Metsäliitto Group is constantly improving the quality and cost-effectiveness of its operations. In the past, the Metsäliitto Group used to have several country-specific suppliers and agreements in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Now, we have set ourselves a goal to obtain effective services from one supplier, thus achieving cost efficiency both through advantages of scale and lower management costs,” says Ilkka Pitkänen, CFO, Metsäliitto Group. “Both Groups have in total approximately 9,000 mobile phones in the Nordic and Baltic regions. The operating costs of mobile phones now represent as much as 60% of the total cost of our phone traffic. As the use of mobiles increase due to ‘one phone’ concept, we have agreed with TeliaSonera about how to best optimize the voice related costs,” continues Ilkka Pitkänen. “Over the last few years, the Vapo Group has grown rapidly and expanded its operations into several countries in the Nordic and Baltic regions. This agreement now provides us with a fast, cost-effective, one-supplier solution; at the same time we can reap the benefits by exploiting the latest technology in voice and data services, and related expertise. We believe that this agreement will help us continuously improve our suppliers’, our customers’ and our own processes and business models,” observes Asko Dahlbom, Deputy Managing Director and CFO, the Vapo Group. “The agreement we have just signed with the Metsäliitto Group and the Vapo Group is an important milestone for us and a clear indication of our ability to serve our international customers. TeliaSonera possesses top-level, internationally recognised expertise. Accordingly, we want to invest in high quality and focus our potential on promoting the business operations and productivity of our customers,” says Juho Lipsanen, President, TeliaSonera Finland. About Managed Services The agreement signed with the Metsäliitto Group and the Vapo Group is part of TeliaSonera’s initiative to develop managed services for customers. In managed services agreements, TeliaSonera assumes responsibility for the technology and the customer purchases a complete managed communications function. For further information journalists can contact: Juho Lipsanen, President, TeliaSonera Finland Oyj, +358-(0)40-302 01 00 or Dan Strömberg, Head of Corporate Global Accounts, TeliaSonera AB, +46-(0)8-713 58 30