MTN renews Ericsson’s management services contract for Ghana operations

Swedish-based Ericsson says January 30, 2012 that telecoms operator MTN has extended its management services agreement for Ghana.

“Under the extension, MTN will retain full ownership of the network and responsibility for its strategic direction, while Ericsson will manage the network operations, optimization and field maintenance for MTN’s 3G sites,” said Ericsson in a statement.

This announcement, according to Ericsson, marks the extension of the first managed services contract between Ericsson and MTN, originally signed in 2009 in connection to the rollout of MTN’s 3G network in Ghana.

“Our first two years together achieved the results we were hoping for: we could focus on subscriber growth, and Ericsson delivered network reliability and efficiencies,” Jon Hoffmann, Chief Technical officer at MTN Ghana is quoted as saying.

The contract extension is expected to strengthen MTN’s competitive edge through improved network availability and capacity as it increases the market growth for mobile services.

By Ekow Quandzie