Etisalat Nigeria, telecommunications company, and Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider on Wednesday, jointly announced the strategic agreement on Information Technology (IT) outsourcing to boost services. Announcing the outsourcing partnership, Mattew Wilsher, acting chief executive officer of Etisalat Nigeria, said the decision to outsource aspects of the company’s IT function followed the adoption of a new model which was effectively aligned with the corporate vision of creating more value for customers by improving quality, reducing costs, embedding innovation, and increasing the speed of delivery.
The agreement reached by Huawei and Etisalat witnesses the first IT outsourcing program that are going to be implemented in Africa Region. Apart from this, the strategic agreement also leads to the transformation of the telecommunications industry in Africa. Pang Jimin, managing director of Huawei Nigeria, said that service is the future, and thus the IT outsourcing program deeply matches Huawei’s service strategy. Being the strategic partner with Etisalat, Huawei will contribute to Etisalat’s business success with professional service capabilities.
Under the arrangement, Huawei will be responsible for the operational management of Etisalat Nigeria’s IT services across Technical Infrastructure, Application Management and User Support. However, the Business Planning, Architecture and Governance shall still be retained by Etisalat Nigeria. Huawei has established a regional network operation center (RNOC) in Lagos, Nigeria in 2013. The RNOC is capable of maintaining all the Huawei networks in Africa continent. The IT outsourcing program is expected to improve the quality of service (QoS) in Nigeria.
By: Ben Uzor Jr
