Nairobi — As competition to control the telecommunications industry intensifies in the region, Zain has outsourced its mobile network operations in East Africa, in a move expected to cut its operating costs.

A statement from Zain on Thursday said the firm had contracted Nokia Siemens Networks, in a five-year plan, to manage the firm's 3,000 multi-vendor mobile network sites in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Efficient

The operator currently serves over nine million customers across the three countries.

In the deal, Nokia Siemens Networks will implement efficient energy solutions within the Zain network to reduce operating costs.

The firm's off-grid site solution combined with energy operating expenses management are key components included in the deal.

As part of the agreement, about 350 Zain employees who work on networks operations in the region are set for transfer to Nokia Siemens Networks.

According to Zain's statement, the employees will retain their existing terms and conditions of service and will undergo further development and training in the latest wireless technologies.

"We will be in a far stronger position to dedicate resources and assets to our customer-facing activities, continuing to improve customer support, developing and launching new products, services and mobile applications," Mr Chris Gabriel, chief executive officer, Zain Africa, said.

This will allow Zain to focus on its core business, as Nokia Siemens Networks will take over complete responsibility for network operations.

"This deal is unique as it's the first mobile network outsourcing contract in East Africa and with this, we are able to capture a strategic market share in the managed services arena," said Mr Joerg Erlemeier, head of the Middle East African region, Nokia Siemens Networks.

As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will deploy mobile soft switching and subscriber data management solutions.

Its pre-paid and top-up solution based on charge@once select will ensure a faster introduction of new services and pricing bundles.

Nokia Siemens Networks will also deploy 2G and 3G radio networks, opening a smooth evolution path from 2G and 3G to Long Term Evolution (LTE) with just a software upgrade needed.