Verizon strikes $2.1bn Managed Network Services deal with HCLTech

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The partnership will see HCLTech become Verizon Business’s “primary Managed Network Services (MNS) collaborator”

This week, Verizon Business has announced a major partnership with Indian ICT firm HCLTech that onlookers suggest could be worth up to $2.1 billion.

The deal will combine Verizon’s networking power and solutions with HCLTech’s MNS capabilities, with HCLTech leading post-sale implementation and ongoing support for Verizon Business customers. This includes helping them incorporate new technologies like 5G, SD-WAN, and SASE into their own operations and consumer offerings.

“HCLTech is a widely recognized industry leader for Managed Network Services, and with their IT service expertise and ongoing support of our enterprise networking deployments, Verizon Business can modernize our service delivery and simultaneously heighten our focus on helping customers incorporate next-generation technology like 5G, SD-WAN and SASE into their operations and their own customer offerings,” said Kyle Malady, CEO of Verizon Business. “IT/OT convergence is the future of data-centric business operations, and with the fast-accelerating pace of digitalization, customers need a well-coordinated delivery framework to realize that future.”

As part of the deal, a number of Verizon’s Business Global Customer Operations will officially join HCLTech to oversee operations.

For Verizon, this deal is seen as a way to revitalise the sluggish results of its fixed line business, offering the company’s business customers a modernised, flexible, and ultimately more attractive delivery framework.

According to Verizon SVP Scott Lawrence, the deal will begin to “unlock value” as early as the end of this year, with grater integration expected from 2024 onwards.