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Reliance in new managed services talks
12 August 2011
Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE reported to be discussing $1.5bn managed services deals with Reliance Communications
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Reliance
Ericsson
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ZTE
Alcatel-Lucent
managed services
Indian telecoms operator Reliance Communications is in talks with a number of companies, including Ericsson, Huawei and ZTE, over managed services deals that are believed to be worth $1.5bn.
India’s Economic Times reports that this will be a multi-vendor deal, the first time that Reliance has outsourced operations to a group of suppliers instead of a single company.
An unnamed executive told the newspaper: “Talks are on with some of the biggest global telecom gearmakers since the objective is to scale up the quality of network management operations by several notches to enhance the quality of services.”
Alcatel-Lucent has been managing Reliance Communications’ networks for the last three years, under a 67:33 joint venture deal between Alcatel-Lucent and the operator. The annualised contract is scheduled for renewal in a short while.
Reliance has been considering migrating to a multi-vendor, multi-year managed services execution model as its networks have become more complex over the years. The company’s network now encompasses 3G services as well as cross-vendor technologies and equipment.
A spokesman for the operator said “RCom continually explores all options to improve its network and services, in keeping with globally evolving technologies and standards. Any new partnership demonstrates this business ethic as well as our ongoing growth in the Indian market. It is independent of our existing business partnerships.” GTB