14 DAY TRIAL // Vodafone has announced today that it has inked a Partner Market agreement with du, the United Arab Emirates’ integrated telecommunications service provider. The two companies announced that the newly-announced partnership was meant to provide better services to their customers in the UAE region.
The agreement stipulates that du will receive exclusive access to Vodafone’s offering of products, devices and services in the UAE, while also being able to benefit from Vodafone’s experience in what concerns areas like supply chain management and technology development, as well as acquisition of enterprise customers from multi-national companies or improved inter-working between networks. du is the first UAE carrier to join Vodafone’s Partner Market program.
du customers will benefit from improved voice and data roaming access across 67 countries. Vodafone will have the possibility to use du’s advanced 3G network to deliver a range of services to customers, using both ‘home’ network capabilities and extended coverage within the UAE. Companies outside UAE that have local operation will also be able to benefit from unified communications, centralized customer care as well as from Vodafone's services through du lines.
Hatem Dowidar, CEO, Vodafone Partner Markets, commented on the partnership, “Through this agreement with du, Vodafone will be able to increase its brand recognition and extend its product range to a key market with a growing population. Mobile usage in the UAE is growing steadily and more of our customers require enhanced roaming services to and from the region.”
“The partnership with Vodafone will enable du and our customers to join the world’s largest international mobile network, whilst maintaining the advantages of being a local operator, thus supporting our prime mission of best serving the UAE population. This alliance will bring substantial benefits to our customers and shareholders, becoming a catalyst for expanding our service portfolio and improving our operational efficiency,” stated Osman Sultan, du CEO.
The du-Vodafone partnership is expected to provide in the future developments like mobile broadband connectivity products for PCs along with remote mobile access for small business users as well as converged email solutions. The two companies also announced plans to deliver new handset models to the market.