Macropolitan and Alcatel-Lucent said Monday that they have partnered to provide UK operators with a fully outsourced WiMAX network deployment in urban areas.

Under the agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will provide the WiMAX infrastructure, network planning, site acquisition, installation and maintenance services while Macropolitan will offer up its portfolio of urban sites.

Macropolitan, formed by Ryan Jarvis, ex-head of wireless at BT, essentially buys rooftops and then rents them to mobile network operators. The company owns exclusive telecoms rights at 8,900 urban sites.

The companies are targeting a trend where many telecom operators are moving to outsource their network deployments to the major technology vendors.