Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has signed a four-year managed services contract with Nokia Networks.

Nokia said in a statement that the deal, which is an extension of an initial managed services contract signed in 2006, covers operations and maintenance services as well as remote network management from its global delivery center in India. The vendor will manage VHA’s multi-vendor 2G, 3G and 4G networks.

In a statement VHA CTO Benoit Hansen claimed Nokia’s service capabilities provide it with a strong platform to evolve its infrastructure to address future capacity and coverage requirements.

Ray Owen, Nokia’s head of Australia and New Zealand, said: “Leveraging our knowledge base and the expertise of our global delivery centers, we will continue to improve VHA’s network quality and operational efficiency at reduced operational cost.”

VHA is Australia’s third largest mobile operator with an 18 per cent market share and 5.3 million mobile connections, according to GSMA Intelligence.