Huawei wins managed services deal with O2 UK

Chinese equipment vendor Huawei said Monday that it has won a five-year agreement from Telefónica’s UK operation, O2, to manage the operator’s multi vendor core transmission and mobile access network.

Under the deal Huawei will be responsible for planning and managing the core transmission, mobile access and core network build, marking the first major managed services deal for the Chinese firm in the UK.

Huawei already works with Telefónica in a number of markets and this latest deal extends the companies’ relationship in the UK. The deal may come as a disappointment to Ericsson, which has a long-standing agreement with Telefónica to supply field maintenance services, but had also undertaken a core network modernisation initiative on some parts of O2’s UK network last year. As a result, Huawei will likely be managing a lot of Ericsson kit.

The agreement will see 56 permanent roles transfer from Telefónica UK to work for Huawei’s managed services business.  A further 62 contractor roles will also be transferring alongside the permanent employees.

Huawei is Platinum Sponsor at the 2012 Managed Services World Congress, taking place in Berlin on the 18-19th September 2012. http://www.managedservices-world.com/home/home