10 July 2014
VODAFONE AND BMOBILE ANNOUNCE PARTNER MARKET AGREEMENT IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
Vodafone Group Plc ("Vodafone") and Bemobile Limited (trading as "bmobile") today jointly announced the formation of a new Partner Market agreement in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.
Under the non-equity partnership agreement, bmobile becomes Vodafone's exclusive partner in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and the two companies will jointly offer business and consumer customers a range of products and services.
bmobile will benefit from access to Vodafone best practice and products and services which will enable it to enhance its proposition to customers in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Vodafone's multinational corporate customers will benefit from the addition of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to their existing contracts for international managed services, while continuing to be serviced via a single point of contact.
Mr Sundar Ramamurthy, Group CEO of bmobile, said: "We are delighted to form a strategic partnership with Vodafone which will enable us to provide a comprehensive range of products and services for our customers locally and globally. In addition, bmobile customers will benefit from being able to roam on to Vodafone's global mobile network."
Stefano Gastaut, CEO, Vodafone Partner Markets, said: "This strategic partnership with bmobile will enable us to expand our presence in Asia Pacific and extend the reach of our products and services across the region. It will also deliver enhanced roaming benefits for both our consumer and multinational corporate customers."
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For further information:
Vodafone Group Media Relations
www.vodafone.com/media/contact
About Vodafone
Vodafone is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 52 more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 31 March 2014, Vodafone had 434 million mobile customers and 9 million fixed broadband customers. For more information, please visit: www.vodafone.com
About bmobile
bmobile was acquired by the Government of Papua New Guinea through an 85% shareholding in October 2013 and has been operating in Papua New Guinea since 1997. It is Papua New Guinea's first-ever mobile carrier and also operates in the Solomon Islands (since 2009). bmobile's vision is to be the leading provider of mobile voice and data services in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and now offers high-speed data, reliable voice and SMS in all major towns in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. For more information, please visit: www.bmobile.com.pg
