Vodafone Deutschland To Outsource Network Maintenance Services

17th Jun 2010 10:00

FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Vodafone Deutschland, the German subsidiary of telecommunications group Vodafone Group PLC (VOD.LN), intends to outsource its network maintenance services, a company spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday, confirming a report in German regional daily Rheinische Post. Vodafone Deutschland is seeking a long-term partnership running at least five years, the spokesman said. With 13,000 employees, Vodafone Deutschland is Germany's second largest telecommunications company. According to the spokesman, 630 jobs belonging to the current maintenance unit would be outsourced as well as management. The spokesman said while a partner hasn't been found yet, a prospective partner must be willing to guarantee the maintenance unit's jobs. He said Ericsson (ERIC), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) or Nokia Siemens Networks are all possible partners and a decision will be made soon. The spokesman also said the company needs to outsource maintenance after winning more network capacity at recent auctions and because of the coming implementation of new mobile network standards. -By Matthias Karpstein and Juergen Hesse; +49 69 29725500, [email protected], [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 17, 2010 05:00 ET (09:00 GMT)