Ericsson Boosts Global ICT Capabilities in India

Swedish telecoms equipment major Ericsson (News - Alert) announced it is investing further in managed services competence in its Global Service Center (GSC) in India.

The investment is significant as the industry shifts towards a broader ICT focus and India is already known as a dominating remote delivery location in the world, according to Ericsson officials.

The investment is part of the company’s strategy to meet the evolving needs of operators for support and operations of IT services. The continued focus on managed services in the center in India makes Ericsson ready to handle remote operations and support for both telecom network and IT operations.

“Staying close to our customers will always be important in services, however, we now see a large share of services that can be delivered remotely, for the benefit of our customers,” said Magnus Mandersson, head of the Business Unit Global Services at Ericsson, in a statement.

“Today, the majority of the subscribers served by the managed services deals are managed out of our two global network operations centers (NOC (News - Alert)) in India and Romania,” Mandersson added. “We foresee that the remote delivery share will increase when we move further into the cloud and the IT sphere.”

Ericsson says the consulting and systems integration will also act as a door-opener into the strategic IT domain which includes IT data centers, service layer, business and operations support systems. The company already delivers over 1,300 consulting and systems integration projects on a yearly basis. With the new capabilities in managed services, consulting and systems integration, Ericsson will get an edge to engage in the cloud.

“Our center in India actually houses the world's largest NOC,” says Mats Agervi, head of Global Services Center India. “Having one of Ericsson's four GSCs here gives us access to one of the largest young talent pools in the world, covering all areas of our services portfolio.”

Ericsson is focusing on activities that can be delivered remotely in four GSCs. The other centers are located in Romania, Mexico and China. The company focuses on an integrated model where local delivery continuously works with Regional Competence Centers and GSC through common processes, methods and tools.

In a related announcement, Ericsson said Indian telecoms operator Sistema Shyam (News - Alert) Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), operating under the MTS brand, has extended and expanded its managed services contract with Ericsson.

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