China Unicom and Ericsson in managed services contract

Ericsson wins managed services contract with China Unicom, serving five major cities of China's eastern Anhui province
Ericsson takes full responsibility for base station sites, fixed network and transmission in a three-year integrated field maintenance agreement
Allows China Unicom to cut its costs and provide improved services for its subscribers

The longstanding partnership between China Unicom and Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) passed a landmark as Anhui Unicom - a provincial company of China Unicom - signed a three-year integrated field maintenance agreement with Ericsson, making Ericsson its largest managed services partner in Anhui Province. Ericsson will take care of the maintenance work for base station sites, as well as fixed network and transmission.

This is the largest managed services contract between the two to date. By outsourcing field maintenance, more time is freed up for the operator to focus on its existing and potential customers.

Li Chao, General Manager of Anhui Unicom, says: "Anhui Unicom and Ericsson have been strategic partners for many years and we have a very high opinion of Ericsson's expertise in all aspects. We believe that Ericsson will extend its successful managed services business model and world-leading capabilities to Anhui and help us improve our network efficiency, lower operational cost, and fulfil our commitment to the consumers."

Mats H Olsson, President of Ericsson China & North East Asia, says: "China represents the largest telecom and internet market in the world with some 800 million mobile subscribers and 420 million internet users. It also has the largest telecom infrastructure, with more than 320,000 3G base stations. We hope that by becoming Anhui Unicom's largest managed services supplier we will set a benchmark for field maintenance services throughout China Unicom."

Anhui is the eighth most populated province in China and has a mobile penetration of around 50 percent. The field maintenance agreement between Ericsson and Anhui Unicom covers five major cities of China's eastern Anhui province including Wuhu, Xuancheng, Bengbu, Chuzhou, and the province capital city Hefei.

In the past, Ericsson has been one of the major suppliers to Anhui Unicom and its largest GSM supplier. Ericsson has also long-term cooperation with the customer in professional services, including network rollout, network performance improvement, learning services and spare-part management.