Vodafone overhauls Asian partnerships

Vodafone is revamping its partnership agreements in Asia as part of its efforts to provide better roaming and network coverage in the region.

Vodafone joined the Conexus Mobile Alliance that includes operators in Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. The company also hopes to expand roaming agreements with other Conexus members, such as KT in South Korea, in the future.

However, Vodafone is also terminating marketing partnerships with Hong Kong's SmarTone and Singapore's M1.

Commenting on this move, SmarTone CEO Douglas Li said in a statement: "The marketing co-operation has been valuable to both parties over the years. However, our interests have diverged for some while and after extended discussions both parties agreed it best for each to pursue its own course."

Singapore's M1 indicated that it would now approach new roaming partners in the region, having been restricted from doing this in the past by the Vodafone agreement.

Separately, Japan's NTT DoCoMo said it plans to work more closely with Vodafone on the sales and marketing of corporate services to multinational companies starting in December of this year. DoCoMo is also a member of Conexus Mobile Alliance.

For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see the Telegeography article
- see this release

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