Telecom signs $200m outsourcing deal with Lucent

1.30pm

Telecom Corp said today it had signed a $200 million deal with Lucent Technologies for the latter to supply and manage its 027 mobile network.

The agreement with Lucent is for five years and is one of the most extensive managed service agreements in the world among mobile network operators, Telecom said.

Lucent will be responsible for the network planning, design, deployment, support, and overall management of Telecom's 027 CDMA network in addition to supplying the equipment to expand the network, which it built 18 months ago.

The network gives customers high speed data links and access to Telecom's internet service, Xtra.

About 50 Telecom staff will transfer to Lucent on July 1.

Lucent New Zealand General Manager Ian Gardner said there are significant opportunities for transferring staff given the global operation of the company.

- NZPA