Telecoms infrastructure maker Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) said on Thursday it had won its largest outsourcing deal in Africa to date, taking on 350 staff from Kuwait operator Zain.

Nokia Siemens said the five-year deal would see it optimise, modernise and manage equipment in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, where Zain has over 9 million customers. It will also replace some of the operator's existing, non NSN gear with its own.

'This contract marks Nokia Siemens Networks' biggest multi-vendor outsourcing case in the region and it's one of the first supplier swap ... deals of its kind in Africa,' NSN said in a statement.

Telecom operators in recent years have outsourced some or all of their networks to equipment makers like NSN and Ericsson, who use such contracts to build economies of scale and keep the costs of running the networks low.-Reuters