19 February 2003 -- Greenwoods Communications, the UK-based independent telecoms company, has expanded its Technical Services Group, comprising test, commissioning and network support functions.
Growth has been driven by the demand created by the technical skills vacuum that has opened up as a direct result of cost cutting at both operators and OEMs.
The Technical Services Group has grown dramatically in size since its creation just three years ago. The 30 strong team, headed-up by technical services manager, Paul Rabidas, comprises highly skilled engineers who previously worked for OEMs and operators and are now involved in troubleshooting problems, upgrades, network optimisation and test & commissioning.
The reliability of both fixed and wireless networks can only be achieved through both high quality construction and increasingly sophisticated test and commissioning procedures, rigorously performed before, during and after networks go live.
The role of test and commissioning has recently seen a shift in approach. With operators choosing to use a multitude of OEM technologies rather than aligning to one or two, they now require commissioning engineers and network support professionals who understand a diverse range of technologies and are not OEM specific.
Paul Rabidas, technical services manager, said, "Shifts in the market have led to greater demand for third parties to meet the need for multi-vendor installation and commissioning, carrying out functions previously performed by the operators, or OEMs, themselves," continued Rabidas.