Today, Rogers Communications of Canada and Vodafone announced jointly that they would enter into a Partner Market agreement. Vodafone’s Partner Market Group includes more than 30 telecommunications companies operating in nearly 50 countries. Although none of the details were shared in the announcement, this agreement should help the Canadian market with revenue opportunities and cost savings to Rogers and hopefully, they will pass those savings on to their customers. Rogers’ new Chief Executive Officer, Guy Laurence, who joined the Canadian company late last year from Vodafone’s UK unit said:
“We’re focused on significantly improving our customers’ experience and believe that the knowledge and resources we will get from this alliance will be a big benefit to our customers. We will draw on expertise and best practices from operators around the world to improve the products and services, like roaming and unified voice solutions, that we offer our consumer and business customers.”
Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao responded: “We are delighted that Rogers has joined our successful Partner Markets community. Canada is an important market as we continuously expand our roaming capabilities across North America.”
Vodafone is the world’s largest telecommunications companies and as of March 2014 had 434 million mobile customers and 9 million broadband subscribers. They have networks from Australia to India, in the Middle East and across Europe. One might ask what benefits will they receive from this marriage – Vodafone’s multinational customers that belong to their Global Enterprise will now have access to Canada’s vast network on their existing contracts. Rogers becomes Vodafone’s exclusive partner and together they can offer customers a new range of products and services.
Rogers, on the other hand, should reap great benefits and this agreement should help Rogers win multinational corporate customers doing business in Canada. It should also help Rogers gain access to competitive pricing with Vodafone’s equipment buyers.
The news did not affect the stock prices too much as shares in Rogers rose only 0.3 percent to C$44.58 on the Toronto Stock Exchange and Vodafone was down 0.75 percent at 207 pence in London. It will be interesting to see how this relationship develops and if Rogers’ subscribers really do see any benefits – will this allow Rogers to offer more services at a more competitive price, or will Rogers simply keep any extra profits that they make for themselves. Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know what you think about this new arrangement…as always, we would love to hear from you.