Ericsson has announced that it will be partnering with Orange Polska, the French telco’s Polish subsidiary, to help deliver an upgrade of its operation support systems (OSS) over the next six years. The agreement between the two parties will see Ericsson help to drive the transformation and optimisation of processes and information systems for the telco.

A statement made by Ericsson claims that, by working with the Swedish kit vendor on its new OSS software suite, Orange will be in a better position to process data more quickly. It also reckons Orange could develop of new OSS tools at a cheaper price point. A range of systems integration and consulting services are apparently included in the deal, according to Ericsson.

Speaking of the agreement, and of the state of the OSS industry in Europe, Valter D’Avino, Head of Ericsson’s Western and Central European business, stated that operators across the region are increasingly demanding more agile and robust operation systems.

“The OSS transformation gives Orange Polska the agility to optimise their operations and ensure improved end-user satisfaction,” he said. “For us it is a next step in OSS/BSS transformation in Central Europe. It captures the growing need among operators for flexible, reliable systems that help grow the business.”

With the birth of 4G, and superfast fibre broadband for fixed providers, taking an integrated view of next generation and legacy networks is becoming increasingly essential for today’s operator. When considering the rise in convergent strategies being adopted by telcos today, the need for more efficient network management systems is emphasized further.

In the Telecoms.com Intelligence Annual Industry Survey 2015, almost half of the 2,000+ respondents indicated that investment in upgrading and further developing OSS systems was likely or highly likely this year. Clearly, OSS is providing operators with a bit of a headache this year, and it’s interesting to see more OSS transformation success stories coming to the fore.