Just over a year after selling its Verizon Wireless stake, Vodafone has revealed that it will reenter the US market next year using T-Mobile's network to serve its multinational corporate customers.
Vodafone Americas revealed Friday that it has struck a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) deal with T-Mobile US Inc. . Vodafone says that the agreement will allow it to serve multinational corporations with wireless services in the US.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) has "more than 400" multinational customers based in the US. A further 500 multinational corporate customers have a strong presence in the US, Vodafone says.
The service will launch in the fall of 2015. It is a further international expansion for Vodafone, which says it has networks in 27 countries -- including 16 Vodafone markets with 4G LTE networks -- and more than 75 countries where it has partner agreements.
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T-Mobile is one of the logical choices for an MVNO network in the US for international Vodafone users who may not have 4G LTE phones but can connect on T-Mobile's 3G GSM-based network in the US.
Larger GSM and LTE rival AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) would be the other logical choice for a US partner network for Vodafone. Despite regular chatter about a merger between Vodafone and AT&T, however, T-Mobile has won this particular deal with the UK-based giant. (See Euronews: Vodafone Shares up on AT&T Takeover Rumor.)
Vodafone sold its stake in US 3G CDMA and LTE operator Verizon Wireless for $130 billion in September 2013 and closed the deal in February 2014. (See Vodafone Agrees to $130B Verizon Stake Sale.)
— Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading
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