The collaboration agreement will cover, among other areas, the provision of global M2M solutions, international roaming agreements and the development of technological standards.
Telefónica, through its Telefónica Digital unit, and the Turkish mobile operator, Avea (part of Turk Telekom group), have signed an agreement through which the two companies will develop business opportunities in the M2M sector.
The alliance covers technological cooperation, as well as the development of joint commercial and marketing endeavours. This will allow them to create economies of scale, with significant cost reductions, and obtain new sources of income thanks to the opening of new markets.
As regards commercial initiatives, the two companies will unite their efforts to develop joint marketing and market analysis strategies and to offer solutions in different geographical regions through the provision of a single SIM card.
The scope of the agreement also covers the development of in novel fields such as transportation, smart cities, home automation, energy efficiency, mobile healthcare and industry.
Both operators will cooperate to promote open standards and the interoperability of M2M systems at an international level. This collaboration will also extend to the field of research and development of M2M technologies and to the joint certification of devices.
Among the objectives of the alliance between Telefónica and Avea is also the widening of the collaboration framework to include a large number of markets, and thus the agreement is open to creating future alliances with other operators. By increasing the scope of the initiative, the goal is to stimulate the sale of this type of services, facilitate their deployment and simplify rates so as to offer a better quality range across the globe.
Mr. Carlos Morales, Director of M2M at Telefónica Digital said on this agreement: “There is a huge potential behind the M2M business. This cooperation with Avea will help us in further developing novel vertical solutions and widen our coverage.”
“Telefónica will gain privilege access to the Turkish market whereas Avea will leverage on Telefónica´s capabilities of network coverage, long experience of providing wireless M2M communication solutions and its leading market position in core UE markets and Latin-America.”
Mr. Kadir Boysan, the Chief Strategy Officer of Avea, commented as follows about the agreement: “The cooperation will provide all Avea customers, individual and corporate, with access to M2M services at global standards, and ensure the launching of brand new products and services to the market through the support of the R&D activities in Turkey. Being a prominent technology provider in Turkey; we intend to open up a new era in M2M communications for all our customers, individual and corporate, by means of our corporation with Telefónica, a gigantic global telecommunications service provider.”