Sprint will outsource the management for its US CDMA network to Ericsson and will keep WiMAX management internal, the company’s press release recently announced. In a seven-year agreement titled Network Advantage, Sprint hopes to increase the effectiveness of its wireless and wireline network.
“No other US-based carrier has followed through on the business-enhancing vision inherent in Network Advantage,” said Steve Elfman, President of Network Operations and Wholesale at Sprint. “Our best ever network performance will become even better by leveraging Ericsson’s world-class leadership in network services, their proprietary tools, and the knowledge of more than 30,000 dedicated and highly-specialized service professionals to power Sprint’s Now Network.”
As part of the agreement, 6,000 Sprint employees will begin performing their network functions as Ericsson employees sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year. Yet Sprint will still control the customer experience–customers will continue to work directly with Sprint employees as their primary contact. Ericsson will assume full responsibility for the day-to-day services and maintenance for the Sprint-owned CDMA, iDEN and wireless networks; however, Sprint will retain technology and vendor selections. In addition, Sprint will retain full ownership and control of its network assets, network strategy, and investment decisions.
The Network Advantage plan is expected to increase Sprint’s operational efficiency and expand Ericsson’s network service business in North America. Sprint’s Xohm WiMAX services are mostly run by Clearwire, one of the leading WiMAX deployment companies in the US. Ericsson currently is a partner with Clearwire in providing the Clearwire IMS core and related integration services and voice application solutions.
