RCom in $ 1-bn managed services pact with Ericsson

New Delhi: Telecom operator Reliance Communications (RCom) has entered into a $1 bn managed services agreement with Ericsson to operate and manage the former’s wireline and wireless networks across India.

As per the seven-year agreement, Ericsson will do the field maintenance, network operations and operational planning of Reliance Communications’ 2G, CDMA and 3G mobile networks, a statement said.

“This strategic pan-Indian deal is an expansion of the existing agreement, which enables Ericsson to deepen its partnership with RCom and extends its managed services footprint nationwide across all the 22 circles in India. This is the first pan-Indian managed services deal for Ericsson,” a statement said.

Ericsson will bring all aspects of fiber, mobile networks and wireline access networks to RCom’s wireless and Global Enterprise Business, across differentiated product lines. It will deliver world-class customer experience using Centralized Network Operations Center and bring in operational efficiencies and optimization using its global expertise, it added.

Meanwhile, Ericsson will also be responsible for network operations in order to increase customer satisfaction and retention. Ericsson will also work with RCom to identify opportunities to introduce new services and expand its existing businesses with effect from December 1, 2014.

Suresh Rangachar, Head of Commercial, RCom, said: “We are happy to announce our partnership with Ericsson to manage our wireline and wireless network on a pan-Indian basis. Given the complexity of networks and the growing performance expectations from customers, we are banking on the experience, innovation and technical expertise of Ericsson to improve the productivity of our network and ensure customer satisfaction and retention by delivering superior network performance and service quality at optimized costs.”

Magnus Mandersson, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Unit Global Services, Ericsson, said; “We are excited to partner with RCom for this strategic multi-technology managed services deal. We have been managing their networks in north and west and are now pleased to extend this support to all 22 Circles. RCom’s infrastructure covers over 150,000 km of fiber, 2G/3G/CDMA mobile network, wireline access and enterprise network in 22 telecom circles, across India and includes 21,000 towns and 400,000 villages to which it offers converged services including voice, data and video."