Ericsson to acquire Canada-based Telcocell, subsidiaries

The Sweden-headquartered firm said that the acquisition, which is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2013, will see about 200 services employees and consultants joining Ericsson.

"Ericsson Wednesday announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire business of Telcocell as well as its subsidiaries. Approximately, 200 services employees and consultants primarily based in Canada and the United States are expected to join Ericsson," it said in a release.

Ericsson did not reveal the amount involved in the acquisition deal.

The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the third quarter of 2013, subject to customary closing conditions, it added.

Ericsson will benefit from Telcocell's consulting and systems integration experience in converged charging, custom development, quality assurance and production support for BSS.

The acquisition complements its existing comprehensive BSS product portfolio and expertise in these fields and will further strengthen the firm's customer relations and BSS transformation capabilities, primarily in North America.

"Acquiring capabilities from Telcocell will further strengthen our ability to offer full ICT transformation capabilities to our customers, and Ericsson's competitiveness at the intersection where IT meets telecom," Ericsson Head (Consulting and Systems Integration) Paolo Colella said.

Telcocell CEO, Founder and Managing Partner Mickey Weizmann said, "While Telcocell's multi-vendor BSS consulting and systems integration expertise will broaden Ericsson's services capabilities, the company will benefit from joining a firm with global scale and presence."