The trend towards operators outsourcing the management and operation of their networks and internal services has moved upwards, with both T-Mobile UK and 3 in Denmark and Sweden doing deals with Ericsson.
The agreement Ericsson has secured with T-Mobile UK calls for a five-year managed services contract to modernise the cellular network and provide a range of professional services including field operations and multi-vendor spare parts management. This deal is the second managed services contract Ericsson has secured with a Deutsche Telekom (DT) company this year. It follows a contract for operation and maintenance of DT's microwave network in Germany announced in August.
The arrangement with 3 in Sweden and Denmark will see Ericsson develop and host the operator's mobile music service which is operational in both countries, including full end-to-end responsibility for the systems integration, operations and development of new features to the 885,000 Danish and Swedish subscribers to the service.
Peder Ramel, CEO at 3 Scandinavia, says: "Ericsson's hosted solution is the next step in the development of our award-winning service. It allows us to focus on our customers and provide them with world-class content cost-effectively."
For more on this story read: Mobile Europe and DMEurope