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21st January 2005 - Ericsson has signed an exclusive
managed services contract with H3G Italy of the Hutchison
Whampoa Group. Under the agreement, Ericsson will be
responsible for the overall management of H3G Italy's
3G network.
H3G Italy, part of one of the world's largest 3G operators
and with over 2.6 million subscribers in Italy, has
chosen Ericsson as a strategic partner for the total
management and development of its multi-vendor 3G network
in Italy. The contract also contains optimization of
assets, management of H3G Italy's advanced 3G-multimedia
service environment, including management of the service
layer and business support systems.
The agreement will deliver increased efficiency and
cost savings of about 250 million euro in a five year
period for H3G Italy, supporting the operator's further
expansion in the promising area of 3G multimedia and
video services in Italy. H3G Italy will now be able
to focus even more on providing attractive, new services
along with supreme quality of service to its subscribers.
"The solution put in place together with Ericsson,
allows us to increase the value of the network and IT
assets, the know-how and the work developed in UMTS
up to today," underlined H3G Italy's CEO Vincenzo Novari.
"We will also achieve an improved cost structure and
better efficiency in generating the resources necessary
for the development of our business, guaranteeing the
quality desired by our customers. The partnership will
safeguard the people, know-how and competencies, which
will become part of the global leader in network infrastructure
and telecommunication services, creating a reference
point for the global market."
"We are proud to work with such an advanced customer
as H3G Italy, who in a very short time have been able
to attract over 2.6 million subscribers," says Hans
Vestberg, Senior Vice President, Business Unit Global
Services, Ericsson. "This is the largest managed services
contract we have signed to date and also one of the
largest agreements ever signed by Ericsson. The deal
further strengthens our global leadership and reinforces
the trend toward managed services, in which operators
and vendors work as partners to reduce costs, improve
network quality, optimize assets and bring new services
to market as quickly as possible."
The agreement includes transfer of some 750 employees
from H3G Italy to Ericsson, which will complement Ericsson's
advanced service organization in Italy. The due diligence
phase starts immediately and is expected to be concluded
within two months. Ericsson will assume responsibility
during the second quarter of 2005.
"We are honored to support H3G Italy in becoming even
more successful on the Italian market providing attractive
and innovative consumer services," says Cesare Avenia,
Head of Market Unit Italy, Ericsson. "By entering this
managed services partnership with Ericsson, H3G Italy
will benefit from Ericsson's local resources, global
expertise, world-class methods, tools and processes
for managing multi-vendor and multi-technology networks."
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