Peter Laurin, director Managed Services Hosting sales at Ericsson, says this fact has opened up a win-win opportunity. "Small- and medium-sized mobile operators understand the need to keep up the pace in the increasingly competitive area of end-user services such as music, video and games. By delegating the technical issues of integrating and managing the service as well as content partner management to a partner, they free-up time and resources, allowing them to focus on marketing and branding issues," Laurin says.

Most operators will find the low entry barriers in the hosting concept, limited capital costs and the elimination of the need to invest in training, employees, equipment or buildings an attractive deal.

In 2004, Ericsson announced 15 hosting contracts, compared to just a handful in 2003. The area is growing fast, as is the whole concept of managed services, and Ericsson is considered the market leader thanks to its combination of broad technological know-how, great experience in managing and operating networks and services and ability to track changes in consumer behavior, as well a developing new services in close cooperation with content providers.

"Ericsson is changing into a service-driven company, where technology is still an integral part of the deal, but functionality is what counts to end users," Laurin says. "It is a new way of selling products and services, offering packages that bring functionality and content to our customers, which in turn help them develop the interplay with their clients."

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