Less than a week after announcing a $5 billion deal to take over the day to day running of the Sprint network in the states, Ericsson reports another deal. This time it’s with Telefónica‘s UK branch, O2. The services provider has been signed for a “multi-year” managed services agreement with the mobile operator.
Ericsson will be handling maintenance and other services for the 2G and 3G networks belonging to O2 UK. Part of this deal is just a continuation of an already existing equipment agreement between the two companies. But the managed services segment is brand new. The stated goal of Ericsson, according to the deal, is to “improve network performance and end-user experience whilst reducing operational costs”.
From the release:
Mats Granryd, Managing Director, Ericsson UK, says: “We view this as an excellent step in the development of a long-term strategic partnership with Telefónica O2 UK and we are extremely honored to have been chosen by Telefónica O2 UK as its Managed Services partner. Although Ericsson and Telefónica O2 UK have enjoyed a long relationship this agreement has significantly strengthened it, bringing us much closer.”
What we think?
Ooookay. So far this year we’ve had the Sprint deal, $1.7 billion worth of infrastructure deals in China and multiple global network provision wins. And there’s bee the 7-year managed services deal with Vodafone UK, which is pretty much identical to this one. And that’s just the stuff I can think of right now. Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are like the Goldman Sachs of the mobile world. While the economy crumbles around them, they make incredible strides.
Couldn’t agree with you more about Ericsson…. they are on fire….all over the place with significant landmark deals….. Svanberg is leaving behind his legacy
Can’t see much about Alcatel-Lucent though…..