Reliance Communications signs $1 billion managed services deal with Ericsson

Telecom Lead India: Ericsson has clinched a $1 billion managed services contract from Reliance Communications for wireline and wireless networks for North and West India.

As part of one of the first converged wireless and wireline managed services deals in India, Ericsson will manage Reliance Communications’ 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks.

Recently, Reliance Communications and Alcatel-Lucent entered into an end-to-end network managed services contract aimed at delivering superior customer experience in Eastern and Southern India up to 2020.

Ericsson’s managed services contract with Reliance Communications covers 100,000 km of fiber and mobile infrastructure in 11 telecom circles, across North and West of India including Delhi and Mumbai.

Reliance Communications will shift around 5000 employees to Ericsson.

Magnus Mandersson, executive vice president and head of Business Unit Global Services, Ericsson

The telecom network equipment provider will manage operations across wireline and wireless networks and will take over responsibility for field maintenance, network operations and operational planning of Reliance Communications 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks.

Ericsson will streamline Reliance Communication’s operations by bringing all aspects of fiber, tower operations, wireless networks and wireline access networks to RCOM’s wireless and global enterprise business, across differentiated product lines.

Gurdeep Singh, chief executive officer – Wireless Business, Reliance Communications, says given the complexity of network increasing with platforms, technologies and application offerings, it is banking on the experience, innovation and technical expertise of Ericsson.

Magnus Mandersson, executive vice president and head of Business Unit Global Services, Ericsson, says the increasing uptake of new technologies requires an increased focus on customer experience management in the hyper competitive and highly dynamic Indian telecom market. With this partnership Reliance will increase focus on their core business and innovation.

Interestingly, the deal also reflects increased demand for managed services in India. Recently, Airtel bought out Alcatel-Lucent’s 74 percent stake in its wireline and broadband managed services joint venture with Alcatel-Lucent.

Fredrik Jejdling, head of Region India, Ericsson, who is going to move Africa, says the contract with Reliance Communications enables Ericsson to expand its footprint and strengthen existing leadership in managed services.

Reliance Communications’ infrastructure covers 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages in India.

 

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