Ericsson won a bid which was also attended by important local and international telecom players, including the local units of Alcatel Lucent and Huawei, according to telecom sources cited by Mediafax late June.
According to the contract, Ericsson will assume responsibility for network operations and maintenance of wireline and wireless access, transmission, core and IP domains, as well as network operations for operations support systems, for Romtelecom and Cosmote Romania.
“Romania is a very important market for Ericsson, which is why the country hosts one of our four Global Service Centers. This agreement will increase our knowledge of the Romanian market, and in turn we will help these operators improve network quality, overall quality of service and customer experience – thereby promoting end-user loyalty,” Jean-Claude Geha, Vice President and Head of Managed Services at Ericsson, stated.
Ericsson’s Global Service Centers – located in China, India, Mexico and Romania – house Global Network Operations Centers that, in combination with local and regional centers, provide managed services for networks that serve 1 billion subscribers.
The Global Service Centers also develop competence to support regional service-delivery organizations to provide professional services in Information and Communications Technologies, such as consulting, IT, systems integration, network rollout and customer support.
The latest contract is an extension of the partnership between Ericsson and Romtelecom.
End-2009, Romtelecom said it would transfer around 400 employees to Ericsson Romania, starting January 11, 2010, based on a five-year contract targeting the outsourcing of fieldwork operations.
Romtelecom is one of the largest telecom operators in Romania. Its shareholding structure includes OTE Group, with a 54.01% stake, and the Ministry for Information Society, with a 44.99% stake. German group Deutsche Telekom owns a 40% stake in OTE Group.
In 2013, Romtelecom registered total revenues of EUR609.5 million, down 1.6% from 2012. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) reached EUR147.7 million last year, down 11.1% from 2012.
Cosmote Romania is the third largest telecom operator on the local market, after Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania. Its shareholding structure includes Cosmote Group, part of OTE Group, with a 70% stake and Romtelecom, with a 30% stake.
In 2013, Cosmote Romania’s revenues inched down 0.9%, at EUR458.5 million. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood at EUR119 million in 2013, down nearly 1% on the year.
The Romanian division of Swedish group Ericsson had over 1,400 employees and sales of RON543.7 million in 2011, according to the latest available data provided by the Finance Ministry.