Telefónica, China Unicom strengthen collaboration with joint procurement of smartphones

Telefónica and China Unicom have reached another milestone in their strategic global procurement collaboration program launched in 2015 with the selection of C630 from the Shanghai based Chinese vendor Phicomm, a high quality 5’ FWVGA LTE smartphone powered by Qualcomm, to be launched in key Telefónica markets in Latin America later this year.

As a result of this new commercial agreement, Telefónica’s customers will benefit from having access to rich 4G data services with an enhanced user experience through this exclusive smartphone. It represents an important contribution towards Telefónica’s strategic goal of accelerating the penetration of 4G devices and services in its footprint at more affordable end-consumer price points.

Thanks to this joint procurement collaboration, China Unicom continues to introduce its Chinese smartphone partners to the international market through the global footprint of Telefónica.

Phicomm will then be able to establish a strategic partnership with Telefónica, starting with the launch of the C630 smartphone, which has already proven to be a commercial success in the Chinese market with China Unicom. The product will become available to Telefónica customers in key markets in Latin America starting from Q2’16.

Through close collaboration of the Device Joint Working Group between Telefónica and China Unicom, the Joint Procurement Program enables both companies to achieve important commercial benefits through the ranging of common LTE smartphones in a fully aligned selection process.

A first joint procurement project was successfully completed on 4G smartphones last year with the acquisition of cost-effective smartphones from Lenovo and TCL. Both parties also regularly share global market trends, align strategies, develop common measures to improve competitiveness, thus creating value and reinforcing the leadership of both parties in the global mobile device ecosystem.

Both China Unicom and Telefónica commit to continue expanding their collaboration in future joint common procurement activities and additional joint strategic initiatives.