Ericsson lands big British contract

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Sweden's Ericsson AB, the world's biggest cell phone network company, won a contract to manage the mobile network of 3, a British company.

Ericsson will run the network during a seven-year period for the British unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. of Hong Kong.

This is the largest managed services partnership contract signed by Ericsson to date and one of the largest ever signed in the industry, the Stockholm-based company said.

"With this agreement, we will now manage networks that in total serve more than 50 million subscribers worldwide," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson's chief executive.