Optus, the second largest mobile operator in Australia, awarded Finland-based Nokia a five-year deal to manage its network infrastructure, operations and field maintenance.

As part of the contract, Nokia and Optus will jointly develop a network operations centre, which is designed to build on global best practices and tap local talent to deliver higher performance networks, the vendor said in a statement.

Nokia explained it will provide network operations and software services, and deploy robotics, artificial intelligence and automation to help Optus standardise and scale its operations, while the vendor’s field service unit will manage the operator’s mobile base station equipment and facilities.

Friedrich Trawoeger, head of managed services at Nokia, said: “We are pleased to work with Optus to help them use automation and other network management tools to further enhance the customer experience, operational capability and quality.”

Nokia said it holds more than 200 mobile and fixed managed services contracts across the world, with two-thirds being multi-vendor networks.

Optus held a 31 per cent market share and closed 2017 with 4G connections accounting for 63 per cent its total user base of 9.9 million, data from GSMA Intelligence showed.