Sprint’s Ericsson network deal worth $5bn

It is no secret that Sprint Nextel is fighting to continue in the competitive US mobile network business; as a result, they are to now outsource its day-to-day running of its networks to Ericsson. The deal it thought to last for seven years and worth between $4.5bn and $5bn.

FT.com believes that this is the largest network management deal that we have seen yet, and is seen as a great opportunity for Ericsson. This is just the latest in a series of moves from the struggling Sprint, and this latest attempt to streamline its operations is seen as its final effort to keep up with the likes of AT&T and Verizon.

Behind the other big two networks, Sprint is the third largest in the U.S. and is the first network operator in the U.S. to take on this outsourced its managed services model. This is nothing new though, and has become increasingly popular throughout the world in the mobile telecommunications business.