Europe leads mobile managed services market at nearly $9 billion

NEW YORK, USA: When it comes to managed services for mobile operators, Europe leads the world’s most active regions this year.

ABI Research forecasts indicate that the European managed mobile services market will total nearly $9 billion in 2009. The Asia-Pacific region follows a distant second, with a market size of about $5.7 billion. Total managed services revenue for 2009 is forecast to reach $22.2 billion.

“Just a few large companies account for the lion’s share of the network-related managed services market,” says senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. “Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent are the leaders in this space with both vendors recently announcing new managed services contracts and agreements. Among them: Ericsson’s $5 billion contract with Sprint – the first major penetration in North America. The company also signed a seven-year contract with Vodafone UK.”

In 2008 Alcatel-Lucent concluded a three-year managed services deal with Saudi mobile operator Mobily.

Nokia Siemens ranks third in the world in terms of market share, and recently announced managed services contracts with the Brazilian operator Oi valued at $1.57 billion.

Meanwhile the major managed services providers are working to extend their IT capabilities through partnerships or on their own; Alcatel-Lucent, for example, has established a global alliance with HP. The company also entered a managed service joint venture with Bharti Airtel in India.