NII Holdings, Inc., chooses Nokia Siemens Networks to manage network operations across 5 markets in Latin America

NII Holdings, Inc. a leading provider of mobile communication services operating under the Nextel brand in Latin America, has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to manage its network operations throughout Latin America. This partnership positions NII to further enhance the superior service quality and customer experience its high value customers have come to expect, while reducing costs. The agreement covers the management of NII’s networks across its markets in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. The scale of the contract makes it the first of its kind in Latin America and is one of Nokia Siemens Networks’ largest, multi-vendor, multi-country managed services agreements in the region.

 

Nextel outsources network operations to cut costs by 30 percent across five countries

“Our focus on delivering a differentiated mobile service is strengthened by this partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks, as it allows us to increase our operational flexibility, improve our cost efficiencies, and improve our service quality.”

Alan Strauss,
Vice President and CTO, NII Holdings

Ambitious expansion plans meant Nextel was looking to make significant cost reductions. A managed services deal with Nokia Siemens Networks is providing the experience, best practice and economies of scale needed to deliver the necessary efficiency improvements and network quality.

“When you’re looking to find a company that you want to outsource your services to, and you want to transfer over a thousand employees, you’re really looking for a company that you feel will be a strong partner, will share the same values, will operate with the same level of integrity and care that you operate the network today and take you to that next level.”

Alan Strauss,
Vice President and CTO, NII Holdings

Nextel is part of the NII Holdings group and provides voice and data services, wireless Internet access and push-to-talk services across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. The company has ambitious plans to grow its revenues by 20 percent over the next five years. For instance, 3G network deployments are already underway in Chile and Peru and Nextel plans to follow these with
roll-outs in Brazil and Mexico. However, the company needs to generate significant savings in its operating expenditures (OPEX) in order to help finance its future expansion.

Challenges

  • Grow revenues by 20 percent over the next five years by attracting more subscribers to existing services and rolling out new 3G networks and services. Opex reductions are required to help finance these ambitious goals
  • Free up resources to focus on core activities such as marketing and new service launches
  • More predictable costs and flexible operations are required to support the entry into new segments and offer new services
Studies carried out on behalf of Nextel estimated that a reduction in OPEX of 30 percent should be possible by centralizing its network operations across all five countries. Of course, Nextel also needs to achieve all this without impacting its reputation for delivering great customer service. The provider decided to opt for a managed services solution, handing its network management over to a trusted partner and leaving it free to concentrate on developing its core business of marketing and delivering an excellent experience to end users.

The company chose Nokia Siemens Networks to provide a managed services solution over five years. As part of the deal, Nextel has transferred its existing network operations centre (NOC) management and control and operational assets to Nokia Siemens Networks, which is also providing multi-vendor Care, product and service strategy consulting and OSS/BSS integration.

Solutions

  • A managed services agreement centralizes control of the company’s networks across five countries, boosting efficiency and reducing OPEX Nokia Siemens
  • Networks takes responsibility for day-to-day services, provisioning and maintenance of the networks, including a full range of operations, network planning and optimization, consulting and OSS/BSS integration, as well as multi-vendor maintenance services
  • Nokia Siemens Networks will run network operations in a standardized way, delivering consistent and predictable OPEX, efficiency and effectiveness
Transferring 1,000 employees

Finding a partner with a strong track record in managed services was essential. Nokia Siemens Networks already runs more than 230 managed services contracts around the world, supporting networks serving more than 300 million customers. Crucially, Nokia Siemens Networks has successfully transferred 13,000 employees from communications service providers worldwide under its managed services contracts. The deal with Nextel involves transferring 1,000 employees between the partners, which was completed successfully in April 2010, just a few weeks after the deal was signed.

Economies on a global scale

At the heart of the solution is a customer-centric, efficient and flexible “Global Network Operations Model” that defines the framework for delivering best-in-class operations services based on best practices established across many managed services projects. Existing managed services operations at Nextel will become part of the Regional and Global Delivery Organization at Nokia Siemens Networks, effectively enabling Nextel to achieve economies of scale that would not be possible for the provider acting in isolation.

Benefits

  • Consolidation of operations brings 30 percent reduction in operating costs across five networks
  • Nextel can focus on expanding into new segments with new 3G services for its seven million customers
  • No degradation of services to customers throughout the transition period
  • Enhanced service quality and customer experience
“This agreement allows us to sharpen our focus on the evolution of our network, including geographic expansion and the addition of 3G capabilities, while enhancing our operational efficiency. This improved efficiency will help us to better serve our customers by allowing us to invest in developing and launching new and innovative services,” says Mr. Strauss.

"And our employees who will be transitioning to become employees of Nokia Siemens Networks will benefit from the opportunity to work with one of the leading network communications companies in the world, leveraging their expertise to build more efficient operations.”