It’s not any more than a whisper at the moment, but we’ve heard that Ericsson and 3 are doing another managed services deal, this time for the 3 UK network.
Ericsson already has a contract to manage 3 Italy’s network, so there could be something in this rumour, which we stress we have been unable to stand up with either Ericsson or 3.
An Ericsson spokesperson told us, “Our only comment is that we never comment on rumours or speculations.” while a 3 spokesperson said he couldn’t comment on “such speculation”.
So, perhaps not an earth shattering piece of Friday gossip but if true it would highlight an increasing trend for operators to offload the cost and hassle of network operations management. The downsides of course are that operators lose a degree of in-house expertise by doing so.
Until we hear futher on this we’ll say no more, save to echo the Ericsson spokesperson in wishing you “have a nice weekend.”