Idea Expands Managed Service Agreement with Ericsson

Idea Cellular has signed an agreement for Ericsson to provide it with managed services in five circles: Mumbai , Jammu & Kashmir , Himachal Pradesh , North East , and Assam . Ericsson will focus on ensuring better network availability and superior customer experience from Idea’s 2Gand 3G mobile networks. Ericsson’s first managed services contract with Idea was signed in 2007 and the partnership between the two companies has now been extended from one circle to five circles.
Under this three-year agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for managing 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.
As the IT and telecom industries increasinglyoverlap, opportunities arise for operators to innovate and enter new business models and partnerships. 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. As part of the agreement, about 70Idea employees will join Ericsson India.
Himanshu Kapania, Managing Director, Idea Cellular, says:
“Ericsson is our preferred and largest partner in 2G and 3G operations and will now become our largest managed services partner, too. Ericsson has unmatched globalexpertise in managed services, with an impressive portfolio. We are confident that this alliance will enable us to optimize our networks and deliver the best services to our customers. This deal will allow us to focus on creating competitive, attractive and appealing offerings for our consumers.”
Fredrik Jejdling, President and Head of Region India, Ericsson, says:
“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. We welcome the employees who are joining us from Idea. Today, managed services is one of the fastest-growing areas in the telecom industry. With this association, we will gain valuable competence to help us build our services business further.”