Outsourcing Network Management is the Last Thing We’d Expect from Verizon or AT&T.

Wireless network infrastructure management, from day to day tower maintenance and technology upgrades, to managed IT and cloud based services is offered by companies like Ericsson and Cisco.  Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that the nation’s top two wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon were discussing managed services with Ericsson (which has been engaged in a managed network contract with Sprint since 2009 – prior to its Network Vision plan being launched).  Yesterday, Ericsson corrected this by stating that it didn’t mean to imply that it was in specific contract negotiations with AT&T and/ or Verizon.  Verizon’s spokesperson Tom Pica, very bluntly stated “We do not outsource our network management.”  By all intents and purposes, that should be the end of it, but today we found articles in our Inbox with titles like “Ericsson Eyes Management of AT&T, Verizon Networks” (Inside Towers).  This goes a long way to showing that you can’t believe everything you hear!  In fact, it’s sometimes better to wait a few days (or conduct your own due diligence), especially when it comes to ascertaining wireless infrastructure dynamics. When we first glimpsed this report, we were very skeptical that either AT&T and Verizon would outsource their networks to anyone.