Liberty Global expanded its managed services contract with Ericsson to cover six European markets, including two set to be included in Vodafone’s attempted acquisition of four of its units.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will consolidate Liberty’s network operation centre functions for its businesses in Hungary, Poland, Germany, the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands – a move the companies said would “improve network availability and stabilisation”.

The previous managed services contract between the two outsourced operations from Liberty’s units in Poland, Hungary and Austria. The company’s Austria operation has since been sold to Deutsche Telekom.

Liberty Global MD for core network planning, engineering, and operations Jeanie York said the outsourcing was part of its strategy to: “Improve the quality of services while creating operational efficiencies throughout the region.”

The updated contract comes as Liberty prepares to sell operations in four European markets to Vodafone Group.

Of those covered by the Ericsson contract, Liberty’s businesses in Germany and Hungary are included in Vodafone’s proposed €18.4 billion acquisition of assets covering countries in central and eastern Europe where Vodafone already has a wireless presence.

The Vodafone deal is currently going through the European regulatory review process and has already attracted fierce criticism from rival Deutsche Telekom, which urged authorities in Germany to also scrutinise the impact in its home market.