O2 opts for 21C network convergence with BT Wholesale

Why run two networks when all you need is one, pure and simple? That’s the question that BT Wholesale has helped O2 UK to answer.

In a five-year managed services agreement signed last month, we’ll be consolidating O2 UK’s mobile and fixed core networks into one using BT’s 21st Century Network (21CN) platform.

This new approach means that O2 UK will be primed to deliver a range of next generation communications services to meet the needs of their customers with the reliability and quality required, as well as potentially cutting their costs.

And with analysts CCS Insight forecasting that Europe’s mobile broadband users will grow from 22 million to 43 million by 2011*, O2 will also have a high capacity and resilient core network in place, essential for maintaining a high level of service to customers as data traffic rockets.

This latest agreement expands the long-term strategic relationship between BT Wholesale and O2 UK. We already provide O2 with core network management support for their mobile customers plus a managed network service that’s helping them to serve the UK business market with fixed and broadband services, as we reported in The Loop last November.

Nigel Purdy, Head of Networks at Telefónica O2 UK, comments: “As we move to an all IP world and as data traffic volumes increase, the consolidation of our fixed and mobile core networks is a common sense approach that will help future-proof our business and provide the best possible service for our customers.”

Brian Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of BT Wholesale Markets, adds: “Our industry is witnessing a significant shift from commodity products to value-added managed services and this latest agreement with O2 is yet another example of how BT Wholesale is at the forefront of this industry transformation. The trend to outsource network requirements to BT Wholesale continues as operators look to stabilise their operational and investment costs, enabling them to concentrate on their customers.”

* Source: CCS Insight – www.ccsinsight.com/company-news/?p=19

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Interested in simplifying your networks – and cutting your costs – through 21CN managed services solutions from BT Wholesale? Speak to your account management team now.