Europe UK : BT announced a new managed network solutions agreement with O2 that will see BT Wholesale provide and manage high speed connectivity between the majority of O2’s base stations and its core national network in the UK.

Under the terms of the five-year agreement, BT will design and deliver a cost-efficient and flexible solution that enables O2 to manage the predicted increases in network traffic caused by new bandwidth-intensive handsets, reducing the need to invest heavily in significant and advanced network upgrading.

The agreement takes advantage of BT’s new 21st Century Network-enabled Ethernet service. The new, next generation, carrier class service provides communications providers with scalable bandwidth to meet increased demand flexibly, with costs matching actual traffic and revenue increases. This agreement allows O2 to avoid capital investment risk, while benefiting from the economies of scale and national reach that BT Wholesale offers.

Nigel Purdy, Head of Networks Engineering, O2 UK said: “In working in partnership with BT Wholesale, we have a solution that takes care of our growing access and bandwidth needs while enabling us to realise greater cost efficiencies. It allows O2 customers to experience a better mobile broadband experience and significantly reduces our access transmission whole life cycle costs.”

Sally Davis, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: “Communications providers want to secure revenue growth from new services without risking upfront capital and operational investments.

“Consumers are increasingly using mobile devices to access and send data such as photos, video, gaming and high speed web browsing. These bandwidth-hungry applications put considerable strain on backhaul networks. BT is able to design, tailor and manage the access network and cater to the demands that O2’s customers are increasingly putting on the network.”