Vodafone AU inks huge outsourcing deals
Mobile carrier Vodafone Australia has handed out massive seven-year outsourcing deals to Nokia for network construction and IBM for application development and maintenance.
The IBM deal is part of a global arrangement which has seen the vendor and fellow services giant EDS pick up work in a number of countries in which Vodafone operates.
"Vodafone will retain full strategic control of the initiative, which focuses on writing code for and maintaining systems such as billing and customer relationship management applications," a statement from Vodafone said.
"Vodafone expects that the first wave of Vodafone operating companies will begin to adopt the new arrangements from early 2007, with the others following suit throughout the rest of 2007."
Vodafone's global chief technology officer said the group was confident the IBM and EDS deals would deliver cost savings and an enhanced service.
Meanwhile Nokia's relationship with Vodafone Australia also covers the next seven years and is worth a total of AU$297 million (US$230 million). The deal includes engineering and operations services, as well as maintenance of Vodafone's local HSDPA, 3G, GPRS and GSM mobile networks.
"Outsourcing the management of the networks to Nokia makes good business sense for Vodafone Australia," the mobile carrier's local chief executive, Russell Hewitt, said in a statement.
"It delivers cost efficiencies and at the same time, allows us to control the quality and technical direction of our networks."
Under the managed services agreement, Vodafone will transfer some of its Australian staff and contractors into Nokia's Services business unit of its Networks division.
"Nokia has been working with Vodafone Australia since May 2004, and the new deal extends Nokia's current WCDMA 3G network infrastructure relationship with the operator," Vodafone's statement said.
"Nokia also supports the WCDMA 3G network for Vodafone New Zealand and is currently supporting the 3G broadband (HSDPA) rollout for Vodafone in Australia and New Zealand."