Ericsson focuses on managed services

NEW DELHI, INDIA: With the rising demand for ICT services driven by cloud, mobility and broadband, Ericsson is betting big on its managed services portfolio with multi-vendor approach. With strong focus on managed services, the network technologies major sees India as strategically important.

The company sees opportunity in upcoming M&A regulations, network sharing, new 2G and 3G auctions and NTP 2011, which is expected by the end of this year. With the onset of LTE and M2M services, Ericsson believes that there would be new avenues in managed services.

Fredrik Jejdling, president and head, Ericsson India, said multi-technology and multi-vendor approach is leading to increased outsourcing model. The network technologies biggie is optimistic about the new trends that include video, cloud, Internet and M2M services as well as high performance broadband services.

With focus on India, the company has expanded its operations and undertakes R&D at three locations, operates Regional Technical Centers (RTCs) in four cities and maintains world’s largest Global Network Operations Centre (GNOC) in the country.

Girish Kadam, VP, Global Services sales at Ericsson India said that among the biggest challenges today are the operators' concern and expectations that include cost reduction, predictable performance, competence, partner management and revenue increase.

“Time to market in managed services is the key. From national capital, we can well-manage all the 17 operators spread across 23 circles. Our RTC is the key differentiator that keeps us ahead of other vendors,” he said.

Kadam believes that increased operators’ focus on energy management as well as active sharing - both RAN and backhaul - are gaining momentum. Ericsson’s managed services offers multi-vendor approach, managed energy services and transport and wireline services.

The network technologies heavyweight is leveraging one billion dollar investment in processes, methods and tools. The company also said they have a strong model in place to offer new innovation and capabilities to their customers.

It sees India operations as strategic and maintains Global Service Centers in Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Gurgaon and Noida.

“We are hiring from the huge IT talent pool of the country and have a fine blend of telecom and IT, which is our India advantage,” said Mats Agervi, head, Global Services Center, Ericsson India.

Magnus Mandersson, head, BU Global Services, Ericsson said that staying close to customers is always important in services delivery.

“We foresee that the remote delivery share will increase when we move further into cloud and the IT sphere,” Mandersson added.

Of late, Ericsson has invested heavily in mergers and acquisitions to enhance capabilities in network management, OSS/BSS & IT, and consulting and system integration. As part of multi-vendor strategy, the company together with Huawei and ZTE recently implemented managed services for SSTL.

For the managed services bouquet of offering, the company maintains partnerships with Bharti Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, Idea, Uninor, Etisalat and SSTL in India