Network equipment giant Ericsson reported a contract extension with Italian operator 3 Italia to upgrade the carrier’s existing 3G network core and transport network to support 42 megabit per second HSPA+ and LTE equipment. The deal also includes the extension of a managed services contracts between the two companies.
Ericsson said the HSPA+ equipment would be in place by the end of this month, with a commercial launch of LTE services ready this year. Financial terms of the deal were not released.
The two companies initially began working together in 2001 on deploying 3 Italia’s core 3G network, with the managed services agreement reached in 2005. Ericsson also noted that it scored a W-CDMA/HSPA network upgrade deal and extension of the managed services contract from 3 Italia in 2009.
Ericsson has begun to place a greater focus on its managed services deals, having recently scored substantial contracts with domestic operators Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. Ericsson last year won a contract with Vodafone Italy to manage the field operations of Vodafone’s fixed and mobile access and transmission networks, as well as for fixed core network nodes. That five-year deal also included the transfer of about 300 Vodafone Italy employees to Ericsson.
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