Nokia signs managed services agreement with Vodafone Australia

Nordic Business Report-November 2, 2006-Nokia signs managed services agreement with Vodafone Australia
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Finnish telecomms solutions provider Nokia (NYSE: NOK) said on Thursday (2 November) that it has signed a USD230m, seven-year managed services agreement with the telecomms operator Vodafone Australia.

The agreement includes engineering, operations and maintenance of Vodafone's HSDPA, 3G, GPRS and GSM networks.

As part of the arrangement Nokia will be responsible for managing Vodafone Australia's ongoing network operations covering HSDPA, 3G, GSM and core networks infrastructure including detailed design, engineering, optimisation operations as well as network management, monitoring, fieldwork and maintenance services for the networks.

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

The new deal extends Nokia's current WCDMA 3G network infrastructure relationship with the operator. Nokia also provides the WCDMA 3G network for Vodafone New Zealand and is currently supporting the 3G broadband (HSDPA) rollout for Vodafone in Australia and New Zealand.

Nokia, headquartered in Espoo in Finland, is a global mobile phone and network equipment manufacturer. It has nearly 59,000 employees worldwide, and reported net sales of EUR34.19bn in 2005. Nokia is listed on the Helsinki, Stockholm, Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges.

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