Customer Success Story

Netherlands

VODAFONE

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

Ericsson’s Managed Services offering delivers enhanced performance of Vodafone Netherlands’ network

In close collaboration with Ericsson, Vodafone Netherlands

becomes the first in the Vodafone group to hand over

responsibility for the operation and maintenance of its

multivendor access, core and transport network.

Active in a hugely competitive arena, Vodafone Netherlands is

the second largest operator in the mobile market with 4.5

million customers. While mobile is Vodafone’s core offering,

its aspirations lie in moving into integrated mobile and PC

communication services through wireless 3G, HSDPA and

fixed-line broadband services such as DSL. Although well

Customer Profile Vodafone Netherlands is a 100 percent subsidiary of

the Vodafone Group, the largest mobile operator in the

world. It started in the Netherlands as Libertel in 1995

when it became the second largest GSM operator

in the market. This is a position it maintains today,

demonstrated by its revenue share in the Dutch market

and over 4.5 million customers.

Website: www.vodafone.com

positioned in this mature market, Vodafone Netherlands is

not alone in its ambitions. The Netherlands has a mobile

penetration of more than 120 percent and has already

experienced a consolidation, with five operators merging

into three with next to that more than 40 MVNOs.

Driven by these rapidly changing market conditions

and the need to stay ahead of the competition,

Vodafone Netherlands decided to partner with Ericsson

in a managed services agreement. Adjusting its operating

model and organization, the operator took action to

become more flexible, reduce costs and ultimately

pursue its goal of being the country’s communications

leader. Ger Coolen, CTO, Vodafone Netherlands, details

the outcome of the contract: “The Managed Services

solution has brought us exactly what we were hoping

for; the network quality was maintained, we have made

cost savings and the employees that transferred were

taken care of. We have been able to focus on new areas

of development for the company without worrying about

the technical details. We have a long-standing relationship

with Ericsson and building on that it will definitely be

one of the partners that we will use in the future.”

The five-year contract includes engineering, implementation

and operation of Vodafone’s access, core and transport

network. The implementation was carried out in two

phases. Firstly Ericsson took over the radio access

network and approximately 170 employees were

transferred to Ericsson. The project involved a vast range

of responsibilities, from highly technical IP engineering

to negotiations with landlords to build antennas on

rooftops. The second phase included the management

of the core and transport network and the transfer of an

additional 115 employees from Vodafone to Ericsson.

Ger Coolen explains why Vodafone chose a managed

services agreement: “In this competitive market, the

network is no longer a unique selling point. We wanted

to retain our competitive position and this was not

determined by the technology we use but on how we

create value for our customers. It was more beneficial for

Vodafone to focus on the things that were really important

to our customers and leave the network to someone

more capable of providing the technical support.”

Transferring the responsibility and resources to Ericsson

enables Vodafone Netherlands to evolve from a technology

oriented company to a customer-services oriented

company. The quality of the network was maintained and

the shift to a partnering model allows Vodafone to focus on

Rene Herlaar,

Head of Enabling Platforms, Vodafone Netherlands

Not only have we retained our competitive advantage but from an EBITDA position we have become stronger.”

additional elements of the value chain that will encourage

growth and enable the introduction of new products.

The success of the project relied on the close collaboration

of both partners to overcome the challenges faced. Jeroen

Dorrestein, General Manager, Ericsson, Netherlands

explains: “For Ericsson, it was important to think

and act like an operator in order to understand what

Vodafone wanted from the contract. One method of

measuring the results of the Managed Services contract

is through a KPI chart which indicates a positive result

in green and a negative result in red. With the majority

of KPIs in green the results showed solid and good

technical performance from Ericsson, however this did

not always represent the true coverage. For example

if there was an area in red that covered a motorway

or a busy area this was still a problem. So we worked

very closely with Vodafone to ensure that the KPIs

were a true reflection of the success of the project.”

To make continuous improvements, Ericsson performed

a ‘health check’ to refresh the relationship between

Ericsson and Vodafone as well as to revitalize the

project. Meetings were set up in addition to the regular

governance meetings in order to further emphasize the

frequent communication between the partners – a key

to success in any managed services partnership. After

close collaboration on the first project, the knowledge

and experience gained and the alignment of expectations

meant that the second phase ran in an even more smooth

and structured way and was therefore executed faster.

As this was first time that the Vodafone Group had

transferred operational responsibility for part of its

network to an external partner, this was a great

opportunity for Ericsson to showcase its services

capabilities. Already, Ericsson had supplied a

substantial part of Vodafone Netherlands’ network

and it was looking for ways to diversify its business

portfolio with Vodafone to strengthen and enhance

the overall relationship. Ericsson provided Vodafone

Netherlands with a full scope service, resulting in

lower operational expenses and top-quality network

performance as well as enhancing the company’s

platform for growth. Ericsson was chosen based

on its competitive edge in managed services and

Vodafone recognized the benefit of having one

partner for its access, core and transport network.

Rene Herlaar, Head of Enabling Platforms,

Vodafone Netherlands explains the benefits for

Vodafone: “Not only have we retained our competitive

advantage but from an EBITDA position we have

become stronger. As a company we have gained

flexibility and can focus more on our core business

activities and those areas that bring value to our

customers without having to handle the technical side.

It is important to use trustworthy partners and have a

good relationship on all levels of the organization and

we have had that with Ericsson for many years.”

Overview

Customer: Vodafone Netherlands

Customer Objective

• Improvemarketposition

• Reducecosts

• DevelopintegratedmobileandPCcommunicationservices

• Greaterfocusoncustomerservicesthantechnology

Ericsson Solution

• ManagedServices,includingresponsibilityforthedesign,planning,buildingandoperationofaccess,coreandtransportnetworks

Customer Benefits

• Greaterflexibility

• Loweropex

• Improvednetworkquality.

EricssonAB

SE-164 80 Stockholm

Telephone: +46 10 719 0000

Email: asq.us@ericsson.com

www.ericsson.com

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© Ericsson AB 2008-2010

JeroenDorrestein,

General Manager, Ericsson, Netherlands

It was important to think and act like an operator in order to understand what Vodafone wanted from the contract.”