The strategic alliance links Vodafone to a number of members of the Conexus Mobile Alliance, which includes Hutchison Telecom, StarHub and SMART.
Hutchison will become a preferred non-equity partner of the UK-based cellular brand, assisting it in the delivery of roaming and the provision of global corporate services in Hong Kong. Hutchison will also be able to use the Vodafone brand, and rely on access to Vodafone’s base of devices and portfolio of services in the territory.
“We plan to jointly provide customers with enhanced network coverage, harmonised roaming rates across multiple countries and greater cost efficiencies,” said Peter Wong, CEO with Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong. “We also plan to support multinational corporations with services and solutions, such as consolidated bid management."
“The value to Vodafone of collaborating with Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong will be significant given the growing importance of the Asia region to our enterprise customers,” said Paul-Gerhard Itjeshorst, acting CEO of Vodafone Partner Markets.
Vodafone already serves 140 multinational customers with headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region, and a further 435 other enterprise customers which operate there.
“Hong Kong has one of the world’s highest penetrations of mobile telephone services, at around 190%,” said Lisa Hulme-Jones, Asia north research manager with the Buddecomm consultancy. “In addition to Hong Kong’s strong technology edge, its close geographical and political proximity to mainland China makes it a key gateway for all foreign telecom companies hoping to capture a share of that market. Hong Kong is also a key regionhal telecommunications hub and is the landing point for a significant number of strategically important submarine cables.”
