Vodafone's CEO, Vittorio Colao, has indicated to Verizon Wireless and China Mobile that greater co-operation between the three firms could provide significant benefits to subscribers, and that their joint purchasing power should be used to obtain substantial savings from handset and infrastructure vendors.
Colao said in an interview with the Financial Times that, with China Mobile being dominant in China, Verizon Wireless being very strong in the US, and Vodafone having significant operations in Europe, Africa and India, there was the potential for much better collaboration. "If these three companies could work more closely ... in the management of customers, procurement and service creation, we could be unbeatable."
The three firms agreed last year to co-operate on 4G technologies--the first time all three will potentially have a common technology platform to base their service development efforts and joint procurement plans upon.
For more on this story:
Financial Times
Related stories:
China Mobile joins Vodafone, Verizon in LTE trial
Vodafone head sees LTE as an umbrella standard
Mobile industry pushes LTE
Wireless carriers among top brands worldwide