Nokia wins $230 mln network services deal

HELSINKI: Nokia said on Thursday it had won a seven-year managed services agreement with Vodafone Australia worth $230 million.

The deal includes engineering, operations and maintenance of Vodafone's second and third generation mobile networks, it said.

Telecom equipment vendors are battling fiercely for such orders as managing networks on behalf of operators is a fast-growing segment in an industry where new network construction is slowing.

"Vodafone is showing it believes in outsourcing which is great for Nokia and Ericsson and will breed hope of further deals in Europe and elsewhere," said a dealer.

"It surprised some people that this contract went to Nokia and not Ericsson, so it's a slight dent for Ericsson."

Shares in Nokia opened 0.8 percent lower in Helsinki, in line with a weaker opening of the DJ Stoxx European technology shares index, while Ericsson shares were down 1.3 percent in Stockholm.

As part of the agreement, Vodafone Australia will transfer related employees and contractors into the Services business unit of Nokia Networks.

Nokia said it has close to 60 managed services contracts globally.

In a separate statement, Nokia said it won an order for GPRS packet core network expansion from Guangdong Mobile Communications Corp. Ltd., but did not disclose the order's value.