Vodafone to outsource network maintenance services

Vodafone Germany intends to outsource its network maintenance services, a company spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires, confirming a report in German regional daily Rheinische Post. The company is seeking a long-term partnership running at least five years, under which 630 jobs belonging to the current maintenance unit would be outsourced, as well as management. According to the spokesman, Vodafone needs to outsource maintenance after winning more network capacity at Germany’s recent spectrum auction and because of the coming implementation of new mobile network standards. The spokesman said the prospective partner must be willing to guarantee the maintenance unit’s jobs, revealing that Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent or Nokia Siemens Networks are all possible partners and a decision will be made soon. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Vodafone Germany was the country’s second largest cellco at the end of March 2010 with a mobile subscriber base of 34.54 million, representing a market share of 31.9%, behind market leader T-Mobile with 38.54 million (35.6%).