Vodafone and Belgacom have renewed their partner market agreement in Belgium and Luxembourg for a further three years, the two operators have confirmed.
The companies have jointly provided products and services to business and consumer customers since 2003. The non-equity partner market agreement enables Belgacom and Vodafone customers to roam on each other's mobile networks, and extends the remit for customers of Vodafone Global Enterprise.
News of the renewal came just after Belgacom raised its outlook for 2014, saying its core profit would fall by less than initially expected in 2014 after improved earnings in the second quarter. The company's international carrier business, BICS, also reported a better performance after it won back some contracts, according to Reuters.
The improved outlook from Belgacom will no doubt come as a relief to its cooperation partner, which relies on national and international carriers to extend its global presence.
Vodafone follows the policy of forming non-equity partner agreements with operators where it does not have a market presence of its own. The UK-based company recently extended its business activities to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, after forming an exclusive partner market agreement with Bemobile Limited, which trades as bmobile.
In May, Vodafone and France's second-largest operator, SFR, extended their global alliance for a further four years and said their enterprise units also plan to work on new business opportunities in the fields of M2M, 3G and LTE roaming and unified communications.
The two operators already 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 will also continue to offer SFR a range of Vodafone Global Enterprise services for use by customers in France.
For more:
- see this Vodafone release
- see this Reuters article
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