STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH CONEXUS MOBILE ALLIANCE

RNS Number : 5495O

Vodafone Group Plc

20 September 2011

 



20 September 2011

VODAFONE AND CONEXUS MOBILE ALLIANCE FORM STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

·	Significantly expands Vodafone's presence in Asia and provides Conexus with greater access to Vodafone's global footprint
·	Advances both Vodafone's and participating Conexus members' ability to deliver communications services to multinational businesses both in and out of the region
·	Enhances the roaming experience for a combined global mobile customer base of over 600 million

Vodafone Group ("Vodafone") and the Conexus Mobile Alliance ("Conexus" or the "Alliance") today jointly announce that they have agreed to form a strategic partnership which will significantly expand Vodafone's partner market presence in Asia and provide Conexus member customers with greater support in Vodafone's global footprint.

Vodafone intends to work with as many of the Conexus members as possible*, complementing Vodafone's own regional operations in India, Australia, Fiji and New Zealand and its existing partners in Malaysia (Celcom) and Sri Lanka (Dialog).

Over time, Vodafone's agreement with Conexus will include partnerships with:

- FarEasTone (Taiwan);

- Hutchison Telecom (Hong Kong);

- NTT DOCOMO (Japan);

- SMART (the Philippines);

- StarHub (Singapore); and

- TrueMove (Thailand).

Vodafone and Conexus also intend to expand partnerships with remaining Conexus members, such as KT in South Korea, to further enhance coverage.

In countries where Vodafone already has a current partner market agreement in place, any new agreement with a Conexus member would take effect once the existing contract had expired.

The move will enhance both Conexus members' and Vodafone's ability to meet growing demand among multinational businesses for sophisticated voice and data communications solutions as well as advanced roaming services within and out of Asia.

Vodafone Global Enterprise - the business within Vodafone that manages the communications needs of multinational companies - already has 140 customers which are headquartered in Asia Pacific and a further 435 customers which operate in the region.

Conexus members will be able to use the Vodafone brand, enjoy access to Vodafone's devices and services in their home markets and become the preferred partner of Vodafone in respect of the agreed areas of cooperation.

Together, Vodafone and Conexus will provide customers with enhanced network coverage, harmonised roaming rates across multiple countries and greater cost efficiencies**.

Vodafone's multinational customers will benefit by being able to add the Conexus countries to their existing contracts for international managed services, while continuing to be serviced via a single point of contact. Conexus members will similarly benefit from Vodafone's footprint. In addition, Vodafone and Conexus plan to support multinational corporations by providing communications expenditure tracking and procurement services while introducing innovative mobile price plans across the two organisations' shared area of operations.

Morten Lundal, Vodafone's Group Chief Commercial Officer, said: "The value to Vodafone of collaborating with Conexus will be significant given the growing importance of Asia to our enterprise customers. These agreements will strengthen and deepen the benefits to our customers operating in these large and dynamic markets."

Andrew Kwok, Chairman of Conexus, said:  "Conexus is always actively looking for growth opportunities to further enhance its value and competitiveness in the region and worldwide. Through natural growth and member acquisitions, we have tripled our customer base from 100 million to over 320 million in a mere five years after establishment. 

 "The unprecedented partnership between Conexus and Vodafone is a realisation of Conexus' growth strategy.  We believe that it has marked the world's first collaboration between one of Asia's largest mobile alliances and one of the world's largest mobile communities.  The partnership is of strong strategic value to the Alliance. It will not only enable us to further extend our global reach but also increase our overall competitiveness especially in coping with diverse global customer requirements. The partnership showcases our common vision to provide our combined global mobile customer base of over 600 million customers with preferential roaming services and unique value propositions for corporate customers.  It also offers a good opportunity for Conexus members to extend their business relationships to more than 40 existing partners of Vodafone," Mr. Kwok added.

* = The only Conexus country in which Vodafone would not seek an alliance is India, where Vodafone already operates under the Vodafone brand. India remains a Conexus country and there will be no change in the day to day operation and commitment of her alliance members.

** = NTT DOCOMO and Vodafone will enter into a partnership in the area of global corporate sales, terminals and best practice sharing.

- ends -

For further information:

Vodafone Group

Media Relations	Investor Relations
Tel:  [phone]	Tel:  [phone]

Conexus Mobile Alliance

Media Relations 

Cassie Fong

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

StarHub

DID:[phone]

Email:[e-mail]

About Vodafone

Vodafone is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies by revenue with approximately 382 million customers in its controlled and jointly controlled markets as at 30 June 2011. Vodafone currently has equity interests in over 30 countries across five continents and more than 40 partner networks worldwide.  For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com.

About Conexus Mobile Alliance

Established in April 2006, Conexus Mobile Alliance is one of Asia's largest mobile alliances. The alliance is formed to develop and enhance international roaming and corporate mobile services for greater convenience and ease of use for its members' customers. The alliance is committed to promoting voice, video and data roaming via its members' GSM/GPRS, W-CDMA networks and/or HSPA networks and aims to create a Virtual Home Environment for its member customers to experience seamless, convenient mobile-related services when they roam. The Alliance boasted a combined customer base of approximately 321 million mobile subscribers as at 30 June 2011. For more information, please visit www.conexusmobile.com.

About Vodafone Global Enterprise

Vodafone Global Enterprise provides managed communications services to many of the world's leading global companies. It operates across five regions: Northern Europe; Central Europe; Southern Europe; the Americas; Asia Pacific and Africa, with teams based in 21 countries across the globe.

About Vodafone Partner Markets

Vodafone Partner Markets are a series of strategic alliances across the globe between Vodafone Group and mobile network operators which Vodafone does not own. Instead, Vodafone has leveraged its global brand, and international products and services to agree partnerships which enable its partners to offer products and services under the Vodafone name. Partner Markets vary from full Vodafone branding agreements through to product branding, roaming and service resale agreements. In addition to offering Vodafone products and services to partner companies' customers, Vodafone customers, when roaming on partner networks, are able to seamlessly access a range of services familiar to them from their home markets.

 

END

 

 

MSCPGUGPBUPGUQU