Ericsson Supplying Vietnamese CDMA to GSM Migration Kit
Ericsson has signed its largest single contract in Vietnam, amounting to US$450 million, to develop and modernize Hanoi Telecom's nationwide mobile network. The partnership, a first in Vietnam, will also see Ericsson managing and operating the network under a full-scope managed services contract.
Under the three-year managed services agreement, Ericsson will be responsible for the management, operation and network design of Hanoi Telecom's mobile network, including field operations and support services. Ericsson will also provide a range of professional services, such as network deployment and systems integration.
Ericsson will be responsible for the nationwide migration of Hanoi Telecom's network from CDMA to GSM/EDGE technology, supplying radio access network equipment, optical and microwave transmission, and will be the sole supplier of the all-IP circuit and packet core network. The contract also includes solutions from Ericsson Multimedia portfolio.
Deployment started several months ago and commercial launch is set for the end of 2008.
To provide technical support and network operation, Ericsson will expand its operations in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and set up a new office in Danang City.
According to figures from the Mobile World, HT Mobile launched its services early last year but had only secured around 152,000 customers by the end of last year. The country had just over 38 million phone subscribers at the end of Q2 '08, of which nearly 31 million are connected to other operator GSM networks, and remainder are on CDMA networks, S-Fone (3.9 million) and VP Telecom (3.2 million)
HT Mobile's CDMA network was originally provided by Nortel Networks in 2005.
Posted to the site on 1st September 2008
