A while ago I was told by an executive from one of the big network equipment vendors that he had seen proof that a Chinese competitor was spoofing network performance in a competitive trial to try and win business. One conclusion can be drawn from this accusation, valid or not: Things are getting desperate in the infrastructure supply sector. Falsifying performance data would be a drastic act, after all—but then so would slandering the opposition.

Bengt Nordstrom, founder of industry consultancy NorthStream, shares a series of predictions for the mobile industry in 2013. In this fourth instalment he says that the managed services market will consolidate next year, down to a three-player market, as competition intensifies.

Infrastructure and services provider Nokia Siemens Networks has announced that it is to outsource a portion of its own activities to Finnish managed services player Tieto. Meanwhile the conclusion of one of the vendor’s own outsourcing deals, with Brazilian mobile operator Oi, has allowed it to cut another 3,500 workers from its roster.

Indian operator Bharti Airtel will rely on Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) to expand, plan and operate its mobile networks in seven African countries. The operator, which provides services in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, will rely on NSN to expand its 2G (GSM/EDGE) networks and deploy 3G networks in the countries.

US wholesale player Lightsquared has confirmed that it has entered into a partnership with Sprint Nextel that will see Sprint deploy an LTE network on Lightsquared’s behalf. The deal has put a serious dent in the US ambitions of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was named as Lightsquared’s network deployment partner last year.

Bulgarian ISP EVO has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to provide gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology for its upgrade to Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connections.

Nokia Siemens Networks, the telecoms equipment vendor, has revealed that it will be upgrading Hutchinson’s UK’s network, which operates under the brand name 3, to deliver HD Voice calls. The upgrade, the vendor said, will provide 3’s subscribers with improved quality voice calls.

Nokia Siemens Networks’ search for a willing buyer for a stake in the ailing JV appears to have staggered to a halt, with reports emerging that Nokia and Siemens have agreed to rather invest more of their own cash in an effort to revive the partnership’s fortunes. Reports in the Wall Street Journal suggest that plans to sell a controlling stake in the venture to a consortium including private equity investors were about to fall through, with Reuters quoting telecoms analyst Earl Lum as saying that “Any potential investor would need to see some light at the end of the tunnel with regard to profitability for NSN.”

In a major shift in operator preferences for LTE spectrum, three of Europe’s most influential carriers have joined together to encourage vendor support for LTE devices operating in the 1800MHz spectrum. Making their announcement at the LTE World Summit in Amsterdam, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom and TeliaSonera earmarked the soon-to-be-re-farmed 1800MHz spectrum as their preferred choice for rolling out LTE networks.