By Telecom Lead Team: Mobile service provider Idea
Cellular has signed an agreement with wireless infrastructure major Ericsson to
handle managed services in five circles such as Mumbai, Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, North East, and Assam.
Ericsson had signed its first managed services deal with
Idea Cellular in 2007. The new agreement enables Ericsson to handle five
circles from the earlier one circle.
Ericsson will take care 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.
Globally, Ericsson signed more than 70 managed services
deals last year. Managed services contribute 10 percent of sales in 2011, while
professional services contribute 15 percent to Ericsson’s profitability.
India is a big market for us for our managed services
business. As the IT and telecom industries increasingly overlap, opportunities
arise for operators to innovate and enter new business models and
partnerships,” said Valter Davino, vice president and head of managed services,
Ericsson
.
Ericsson will focus on ensuring better network
availability and superior customer experience from Idea’s 2G and 3G mobile
networks.
This deal will allow us to focus on creating
competitive, attractive and appealing offerings for our consumers,” said Himanshu
Kapania, managing director, Idea Cellular.
As part of the agreement, about 70 Idea employees will
join Ericsson India.
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,” said Fredrik Jejdling, president and head of
Region India, Ericsson.
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.
editor@telecomlead.com
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