MANILA, Philippines — Unlike what has been wildly speculated upon online, UK-based telecommunications firm Vodafone is not setting up operations in the Philippines.
Instead, the global telco brand is linking up with dominant carrier Smart Communications Inc. to offer a low-cost data roaming rate to the latter’s globetrotting mobile subscribers.
Aside from the roaming agreement, the two telecom giants will harness the partnership to forge collaborations in the areas of social media, customer care and rollout strategies for LTE, the next-generation mobile network technology.
The partnership was hatched through Smart’s participation in the Conexus Mobile Alliance, an Asia Pacific telecom group with a combined customer base of over 320 million customers.
Vodafone in September last year signed an agreement with the alliance to expand its roaming capabilities in the region. It has been reported that the company is setting its sights toward further international expansion in 2012.
“Through our participation in the Conexus alliance, Smart customers have been first in the region to enjoy a daily data rate of only US$10 when roaming on Conexus member networks,” said Mary Alice Ramos, Smart’s international roaming business and alliances head.
According to Ramos, the Vodafone partnership will bring the same low-cost data offering to more than 30 markets in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where the latter currently operates.
To kick off the partnership, Vodafone executives reportedly flew in on February 14 to 16 to conduct training sessions with Smart’s senior management and online customer management teams, among others.
This was also the same time when rumors that Vodafone would be setting up shop in the Philippines, sparked by the opening of various social media accounts in Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT)-owned telco said more workshops and technical trainings with executives are slated in the coming months.
“We are proud to be the preferred partner of Vodafone in the Philippines, as we work together to meet the growing demand among multinational businesses for sophisticated voice, data and roaming solutions within and beyond the Asia Pacific region,” said Smart International and Carrier Business Division Head Alex Caeg.
source: interaksyon.com
