Voda taps Alcatel-Lucent for managed services

Another win for the outsourcing market on Friday as mobile operator Vodafone UK signs a managed services agreement with Alcatel-Lucent for the support, maintenance and upgrade of a range of technical platforms.

Under the five year agreement, Alcatel-Lucent will carry out maintenance and operations for Vodafone UK’s Intelligent Network & Core Applications platforms, as well as transitioning current systems to standardised Alcatel-Lucent platforms to enhance levels of service delivery.

Vodafone said the deal would accelerate the delivery of a range of benefits to its customers including greater cost efficiency and faster time to market for new products such as new tariffs and offers.

“We are confident that this agreement with Alcatel-Lucent will help Vodafone UK to operate more efficiently as well as enhance levels of service to customers,” said Jeni Mundy, CTO of Vodafone UK. “By accessing Alcatel-Lucent’s standardised product range and strategic services architecture, we also expect to lower the cost and accelerate the roll out of new products by reducing the amount of system customisation required.” 

Vodafone is a big one for outsourcing. Already this year it’s announced a 2G and 3G network sharing deal with Orange UK and has tapped BT to deliver its backhaul capacity.