Swedish infrastructure vendor Ericsson has secured a five-year deal to manage mobile networks across Africa. The firm has signed a managed services contract with Atlantique Telecom, part of the UAE-headquartered Etisalat Group, for the operator’s Western and Central African operations.

Atlantique Telecom has operations in Benin, Central Africa Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Niger and Togo. The contract covers network operations, field maintenance, network optimisation and spare parts management for Etisalat’s multivendor mobile networks, including access, core and transmission, as well as value added services.

The firm said that it aims to develop offerings based on value-added services to its growing subscriber base. During the past decade, the number of mobile connections in Africa has grown an average of 30 per cent per year, the firm noted.

Nagi Abboud, CEO of Atlantique Telecom, said that the Ericsson deal enables the operator to focus on its core objectives.

“With the evolution of the competitive landscape in our markets, we need to adapt our operating model to provide a better service to our end users,” he said.

“Adopting this business outsourcing model is therefore an important step in our group strategy execution that will be for the benefit of our subscribers, who remain our top priority, and this will, as well, open new growth opportunities to our employees.”

Lars Lindén, Head of Ericsson in region sub-Saharan Africa added that managed services is a proven business model to support operators in growth.

“It is one of the most dynamic areas in our industry. Our work together will support Atlantique Telecom in defining a new generation of operators in Africa,” he said.