Ericsson to manage field services for Vodafone in Germany

* Five-year agreement to manage fixed and mobile access and transmission networks, as well as fixed core network nodes
* 600 Vodafone employees to join Ericsson on October 1, 2010
* Extends Ericsson Managed Services footprint in Germany and with Vodafone Group

Vodafone has selected Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) as exclusive partner to manage the field services of Vodafone's fixed and mobile access and transmission networks, as well as for fixed core network nodes in Germany. This is the first time Vodafone Germany has outsourced any part of its telecom network operations.

As part of the five year agreement, about 600 Vodafone employees will join Ericsson in Germany as of October 1, 2010.

Ericsson will take over the operation and continue the current services activities while ensuring a smooth transition for Vodafone staff in order to maintain Vodafone's high network quality. Ericsson employs about 40,000 service professionals working in 175 countries.

Hans Vestberg, President and CEO of Ericsson, says; "We see continuous growth in managed services and we are confident that we can help Vodafone free up resources to focus even more on their core business and innovation. We welcome our new colleagues from Vodafone. They will be key in continuing to build our services business in Germany and contribute to our exciting global services capabilities."

Ericsson manages networks with more than 750 million subscribers and has invested more than USD 1 billion in tools, methods and processes in order to help its customers increase efficiency while providing the best possible user experience.

Ericsson already conducts managed services operations for Vodafone in other key markets such as the UK and the Netherlands.