mm02 picks 3G suppliers

mm02 has chosen Nokia and Nortel to provide kit for its broadband mobile data network across Europe.

In addition, BT's mobile spin-off has signed a letter of intent with Ericsson to outsource its entire mobile operations in the Netherlands and may consider a similar course of action in other areas of its domain.

Nortel will supply mm02 with a GPRS network and the core 3G network infrastructure across the UK, Germany and Ireland.

Nortel and Nokia will each supply 30 per cent of the required 3G base stations across mm02's territories and they will compete in a separate tender for another 40 per cent at a later date.

Nokia will also continue to provide and maintain 70 per cent of mm02's GSM equipment.

mm02 has predicted that the deals will save it around E600m (£367m) over five years on the cost of the roll out of its 3G network and expenditure on its GPRS and GSM networks.

Michelle de Lussanet, European telecoms analyst at Forrester, said: "The downside to this consolidation is that mm02 is creating a dependency on just a few suppliers. A few months down the line Nokia or Ericsson might not be the leading equipment suppliers but mm02 will have committed to a long term agreement with them."

She added: "The benefits mean the suppliers are likely to work very closely with mm02 which means less integration problems. Plus the combined purchasing power of the mm02 group will get them better prices."

mm02 hopes to build its data services from generating 12 per cent of revenues to more than 25 per cent in the next three years.