Telecom outsourcing thriving; Ericsson, NSN, ALU, Huawei: soon running 3/4 of world's networks?

CAMPBELL, USA: Telecommunications industry market research firm Infonetics Research released its updated Service Provider Outsourcing to Vendors market size, market share, and forecast report.

Stéphane Téral, Infonetics Research's principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure, notes: "Fierce competition among telecom service providers around the world is driving them to increase operating expenses, and that in turn is forcing service providers to outsource more of their network tasks, because outsourcing is one of the last remaining ways to cut opex.

With major outsourcing deals looming, Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, and Huawei may end up running three-quarters of the networks on this planet."

Service provider outsourcing highlights
* By the end of 2010, telecom service providers worldwide will have outsourced about $53.5 billion worth of networking tasks to equipment vendors, 8 percent more than they outsourced in 2009.

* Mobile network outsourcing is growing much faster than fixed (wireline) outsourcing: in 2008 revenue from mobile and fixed network outsourcing was roughly the same; by 2014, mobile network outsourcing will grow to account for 61 percent of all network outsourcing.

* The major growth areas for telecom network outsourcing include network maintenance, planning, design, and operations.

* Much of the growth in outsourced services is coming from EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and Asia Pacific, and to a lesser extent, Central and Latin America, with the Oi-Nokia Siemens deal in Brazil and activity increasing in Mexico.