Vodafone and SFR extended a partner market agreement covering France for a further four years to 2020, while Vodafone also signed a separate agreement with SFR parent company Altice for the Dominican Republic.
The two operators collaborate under a "non-equity partner market agreement" on the provision of fixed and mobile services to multi-national customers in France, and roaming services for consumers travelling in -- and from -- the country, and have been working together since 2002.
Vodafone's new partner market agreement with Altice will also provide mutual roaming benefits to subscribers of the two operators, with Vodafone subscribers now able to use roaming services in the Dominican Republic.
Stefano Gastaut, CEO of Vodafone Partner markets, said. "We are pleased to extend our long-standing relationship with SFR for another four years, enabling us to continue to bring our customers the best of Vodafone and SFR. I am also delighted that our partnership is now expanded to encompass Altice's operations in the Dominican Republic, which means that Vodafone is now present in 82 countries, of which 57 are partners."
Vodafone and SFR, which was acquired by Altice in 2014, also cooperate on a global basis. In 2014 they renewed their worldwide alliance for a further four years.
Vodafone typically uses non-equity partner market arrangements such as these to target markets where it does not have a presence. It signed a number of similar deals in recent years.
Last year, the UK-based company extended its alliance with Swisscom for four more years, for example. It has also made use of this tactic to enter new markets such as Nigeria and Benin, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, Botswana, and Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) via an agreement with NTT Docomo.
In November 2014 Vodafone signed a broader framework agreement with Afrimax Group to explore further opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Uganda the first market targeted under the new arrangement.
For more:
- see this Vodafone release
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