MTN Nigeria has signed a five-year managed services agreement with telecom equipment vendor Ericsson.
MTN Nigeria is the largest mobile operator in Nigeria and West Africa with over 45 million subscribers. With this, Ericsson will become MTN’s largest managed services partner on the African continent, said Ericsson.
Ericsson did not reveal the size of the managed services contract with MTN Nigeria.
Under the contract, Ericsson will assume full responsibility of the management, optimization and field maintenance of MTN’s network infrastructure in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Asaba, which represents 75 percent of the network.
Michael Ikpoki, chief executive officer, MTN Nigeria, said: “This engagement with Ericsson is a logical step forward in our strategy execution and is consistent with our commitment to deliver a bold new digital world to our customers across Nigeria.”
MTN will retain ownership and full control of its network assets and continue to have responsibility for strategic design and planning, as well as equipment purchasing decisions.
Ericsson has signed more than 300 managed services contracts in more than 100 countries and manages networks on behalf of operators that serve over 1 billion subscribers worldwide.