BT Global Services has awarded an eight-year equipment
maintenance contract worth $350m (£176m) to
Alcatel-Lucent.
The managed services deal will see Alcatel-Lucent assume
responsibility for most of BT Global Services’ current equipment
maintenance and spares management contracts.
BT expects the consolidation of its equipment maintenance
contracts with Alcatel-Lucent to produce more than $100m cost
savings over the lifetime of the deal.
The new contract covers first-line maintenance, second, third
and fourth-line support, and spares management.
Roel Louwhoff, president of customer service and network
operation at BT Global Services, said, “By moving to a
single-point-of-contact supplier, we will benefit from having one
primary interface for support services rather than having to manage
a large number of service vendors, while service level agreements
will remain at the current high level, or be improved where
needed.”
The approach was in line with the company’s strategy of
combining efficiency savings with improvements in customer service,
Louwhoff added.
The merger between French telecommunications equipment
manufacturer Alcatel and US firm Lucent Technologies was approved
by US authorities last month. The merged company is set to be one
of the world's largest network hardware and software suppliers.
The contract will come into operation as BT carries out its
transition from legacy corporate networks to an all-IP platform
under its 21CN programme.
Wick gets BT's 21CN first >>