The collaboration will enable Veon – formerly named VimpelCom – and HGC to provide multinational customers with their own dedicated virtual private network (VPN) services. The two companies said they plan to enrich their portfolio of services with phased launches of cloud computing, software defined wide area network (SD WAN) and other solutions.
Andrew Kwok, president of international and carrier business of HGC, said: “Combining HGC’s extensive and highly resilient global network and rich experience in serving the enterprise sector, the collaboration with Veon will enable us to accommodate the dynamic telecoms and IT requirements of multinational enterprises with high flexibility.”
The move comes just a few weeks after Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison confirmed that private equity company I Squared Capital will buy HGC for the equivalent of $1.86 billion.
CK Hutchison has a 50-50 joint venture in Italy with Veon following the merger of their mobile operations in the country Tre (three) and Wind into Wind Tre.
Both the Italian merger and the planned sale of HGC are unaffected by the HGC-Veon collaboration. The two companies will provide a single virtual sales team for business-to-business services, combining their value proposition, services and procedures.
The companies have not disclosed whether the new collaboration will operate under a different name.
Eugene Viskovic, chief business officer at Veon, said: “Our alliance of like-minded companies is determined to improve customer experience by harmonising service and quality. Crucially, this will also allow our multinational clients to save costs by purchasing solutions from a single provider.”
