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Hands-on services in the field

Field operations services come under the managed services banner. As one part of a fast-growing industry trend, operators can leave their networks in safe hands and concentrate on their core business – customer needs.

September 15, 2006

Taking responsibility for day-to-day running of network operations, while giving operators better business control, is the managed services philosophy.

Ericsson is the industry leader in managed services, with more than ten years of experience in managing networks. Since 2002, Ericsson has won far more managed services contracts than any other vendor, and is managing networks that serve millions of subscribers worldwide.

As part of the managed services portfolio, field operations cover the full scope of services operators need to handle their network out in the field – maintaining and improving quality. This includes corrective and preventative upkeep, as well as planned assistance in the customer's network. Operator benefits include increased network uptime, resource flexibility and reductions in opex.

“Radio base station maintenance can typically be done remotely,” says Mikael Zettersten, strategic product manager at Ericsson. “But sometimes you need to send someone to fix a broken circuit board or carry out hands-on work in the field to maintain a telecom network.

“Predominantly, we talk about correcting and preventing a fault,” Zettersten says. “But we also do service delivery – adding a new subscriber line or the rollout of a new site, for example.”

Lower costs, greater control
Ericsson works as a service partner and operators profit from a single point of contact for all field operations work. The simplicity and standardization of services saves time and money – the key benefits of any managed services agreement. It also gives operators a clear picture of operational costs and more time to concentrate on core business without loss of network control. For operators, a typical saving of 20 percent can be achieved when Ericsson takes care of day-to-day network operations.

Moreover, Ericsson’s global reach, local expertise and proven technical understanding work to a clear cost advantage, helping operators to achieve better network quality with the use of flexible resources worldwide. Ericsson can repair faults quicker for the same cost, which translates into increased uptime and opex reductions for operators.

“With economies of scale we can lower cost-per-site intervention,” Zettersten says. “By offering our field operations service to several customers, the higher volume of work and lower traveling time to sites means we can be very proactive, too. We can be efficient in what we are doing by optimizing the use of Ericsson’s workforce globally.”

Field operations is a true multivendor service. “Typically, there is a lot of different vendor equipment in networks and our services work irrespective of vendor,” Zettersten says. “And should operators wish to purchase spare-part management from Ericsson, we can also provide this.”

Ericsson has proven experience in the field operations area. Both TeliaSonera International Carrier (TSIC), with networks throughout Europe, and Amena in Spain chose to outsource their field operations to Ericsson in 2003. It has proven to be a win-win situation for both operators and Ericsson.

TeliaSonera’s international wholesale network provider looked to Ericsson to manage all field operations for it’s multivendor networks. Marilene Eckerström, director of TSIC’s network operations and maintenance, says: “We have to create a global platform for quality for all of our customers so that we have one standard set-up. Ericsson was one of the few vendors who offered a global solution.”