Ericsson this week agreed to acquire Guatemala-based systems integrator Icon Americas, strengthening its presence in Latin America’s OSS/BSS market.
The company specialises in providing application development and maintenance (ADM) services – specifically in the area of billing and charging – to telcos throughout the region. In addition to Guatemala, Icon also has offices in the U.S., Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Panama.
"IT services is an area of strategic importance to Ericsson – not just in Latin America but globally," said Sergio Quiroga da Cunha, who heads up Ericsson’s Latin America and Caribbean business, in a statement on Thursday.
"The acquisition of Icon Americas will improve our ability to provide IT and ADM services to customers in Latin America, thereby strengthening our end-to-end position in OSS/BSS," he said.
Ericsson’s services operations account for a significant proportion of the Swedish vendor’s total revenue.
In the second quarter, Ericsson’s Global Services and Support Solutions businesses together generated net sales of 29.5 billion kronor (€3.1 billion), accounting for 48.6% of Ericsson’s total revenue of SEK60.67 billion (€6.5 billion).
The Icon Americas transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015, at which point 250 staff will transfer to Ericsson. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"We are excited to be joining the Ericsson team as its global scale and presence enable us to apply our expertise to a much wider range of customers," said Hugo Cruz, founder and CEO of Icon Americas.
