The agreement between the Spanish group and CK Hutchison’s new CKH Innovations Opportunities Development unit (CKH IOD) will see the latter’s 3 Group Europe join another 10 operators already in Telefonica’s partners programme, which already covers 65 countries and a total of 1.8 billion customers. It will be initially deployed in Italy through Wind Tre, followed by the 3 Group’s operations in Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Sweden.
In a joint statement, CKH IOD said the deal serves to give the group access to an extensive suite of digital solutions and enables its customers to access services through Telefonica’s footprint in the rest of Europe and Latin America as well as through other operators in the partner programme while the Spanish group welcomed the synergies it would create. Both groups added that they had agreed not to collaborate in any way in the UK, where they will continue to operate and compete on an independent basis.
