VEON’s Russian opco Beeline has tasked Nokia to manage its networks as part of a five-year managed services contract.
The deal covers the majority of Beeline’s fixed, mobile and transport networks, and includes managing network operations and field maintenance.
Nokia will offer network planning and optimisation services, network implementation, project management and ongoing network support through its network management tools, processes and software automation.
It will provide the services across the Southern, North Caucasian and Central regions of Russia, including Moscow.
According to Nokia, the deal will provide reduced network and operational complexity, faster time to market, lower total cost of ownership and better service quality.
The new agreement builds on a previous agreement under which Nokia managed services for Beeline’s network in central Russia.
Martin Skop, Executive Vice President for Infrastructure Development PJSC at VEON said: “Today we are at a dynamic stage in our business transformation.
“The partnership with Nokia enables us to restructure business processes, improve financial performance, keep pace with global trends and drive technological innovations. In addition, smart managed services will help us improve our overall efficiency.”
Meanwhile, Nokia announced two new partnerships in Saudi Arabia.
A deal with Zain sees the two companies work on developing 5G and broadband networks in the Middle Eastern country.
Zain CTO Sultan Abdulaziz AlDeghaither said: “This agreement will take us closer to providing commercial 5G network in the Saudi market by introducing 4.5G Pro and 4.9G technologies to Zain’s network during the course of 2017.”
A similar deal was signed with the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), although the two companies promised to focus on IoT technologies rather than broadband.
STC’s Nasser Al-Nasser said: “We aim to bring the first commercial 5G network to the gulf region, and we are confident that Nokia’s innovations toward the development of 5G technologies and IoT use cases, and their trials around the world, will provide a clear path for this.”