Alcatel-Lucent awaits wireline outsourcing

We recently tried to stir the pot a little by suggesting the outsourcing of some elements of wireline operations might be a good next step for AT&T and Verizon, two old-school telcos re-defining themselves as wireless juggernauts. Embarq and BT have pursued such a wireline outsourcing strategy, so it's not a completely shocking idea. We're not sure anyone noticed what we said, but we were happy to see a Telephony interview with an Alcatel-Lucent official who thinks there will be more of these wireline outsourcing deals to come. Of course, with a massive services business and a pressing need to recover from financial letdowns, Alca-Lu certainly should hope there are more to come.

Wireline outsourcing by nature could be a more complex, higher-stakes commitment, considering the legacy of network quality on which many telcos stake their reputations (though that reputation certainly hasn't stopped people from cutting the cord). Telcos may still want to keep a strong hand managing the vendor partners that they hire to manage their networks. Embarq's technology team, for example, works closely with the Nokia Siemens Network team to whom it outsourced voice operations earlier this year. It can be done, and now may be the time.

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