Switzerland's Sunrise joined Telefónica O2's equipment Partners Programme, allowing the Swiss mobile and fixed line operator to benefit from Telefónica's significant buying power.
The Partners Programme, which already includes Bouygues Telecom and Etisalat, is an attempt by Telefónica to set up a collaborative effort focused on the development of devices, the delivery of services to multinational firms and joint procurement of infrastructure equipment.
Under the deal, Sunrise and Telefónica will work together on the possibility of conducting procurement of network equipment, IT and devices, among others, through TGS, Telefónica's global procurement services unit, as well as the provisioning of services to multinational companies. The deal will also see Telefónica O2 indirectly extend its reach and presence into countries where it doesn't have operations.
Sunrise CEO Oliver Steil said in a statement: "Maintaining our high pace of technological improvement is one reason for this collaboration. As revenue from voice traffic declines and demand for data delivery at home and on mobile devices jumps, large infrastructure investments are planned to upgrade to high speed mobile networks or fibre optic technology."
Indications are that Telefónica is interested in expanding its Partner Programme involving other telecom operators so as to mimic the purchasing power following the recent buying agreement between France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.
For more:
- see this release
- see this Telegeography article
- see the Telecom Paper article (sub. req.)
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