In one of the biggest Managed Services projects of its kind in Iraq and across the region, SIM is currently working closely with two of the biggest Telecom entities in the region, namely Zain and Ericsson. SIM is the key on-the-ground player in the US$650 million five-year network outsourcing and optimization agreement signed in November 2011 between Zain Iraq on one hand and Ericsson and SIM jointly on the other.

SIM’s services include but not limited to building, modernizing and managing the field operations for Zain’s mobile network in Iraq that currently includes around 4,000 sites across the country. This agreement also extends to the northern region of Kurdistan where Zain recently launched commercial services and is expanding to meet customer demand.

SIM is working closely with Ericsson in replacing and upgrading Zain’s network by introducing a single-RAN (Radio Access Network) platform, the latest advanced multi-technology, multi-standard and multi-band platform. This more advanced technology combined with SIM’s and Ericsson’s managed services offering, built on improved quality of service and operational efficiency is a step towards giving Zain in Iraq the ability to launch and support 3G technology, and improve its customer experience.

This cooperation between SIM and Ericsson with Zain is expected to enhance Zain’s competitiveness in the Iraqi market where it currently serves over 12.4 million active customers as of 31 December 2011. The deal with SIM and Ericsson will enable Zain to increase its focus on its core customer facing business and financial-generative activities such as managing its customer relationships and to offer a shorter time-to-market for offering new services and technologies.

With SIM’s 800 strong Iraqi workforce working closely with Ericsson and providing the assurance of delivering on contracted projects through optimal network service offerings, telecom operators such as Zain will be better able to focus on customer-centric marketing and financial-generative activities that will improve their bottom line as well as enhance their brand. Optimizing the overall return to stakeholders is our goal.