Hewlett Packard Enterprise says it "will continue to work with Telefónica" on a broad NFV deployment, according to an HP spokesman, following the disclosure last week that the Spanish operator is seeking to replace the IT vendor as its primary virtualization partner.

Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF) appointed Hewlett-Packard as the lead vendor partner for its ambitious, multi-vendor Unica virtualization project, announced at Mobile World Congress in March 2015. But less than a year after the relationship was announced, Telefónica has re-opened its lead systems integration and technology supplier bidding process, with industry sources suggesting that the operator is dissatisfied with Hewlett Packard Enterprise 's efforts as a multi-vendor integration partner. (See Telefónica Ditches HPE as Virtualization Lead and Who Might Replace HPE at Telefónica?)

Telefónica's door is still open to HPE, though, as the vendor is allowed to bid in the new process.

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In an email statement sent to Light Reading on Tuesday by Howard Clabo, the vendor senior VP of global communications at HPE, says it will continue to work with Telefónica. The full statement reads:

The vendor declined to respond to specific questions from Light Reading, saying the details of its agreement with Telefónica prevents it from commenting further.

Subsequent to Light Reading breaking the news of the HPE-Telefónica relationship hitting the skids, Raymond James analyst Brian Alexander warned that the problem "could be impactful" to HPE and could make the company's revenue targets "difficult to achieve," according to a report on Barron's Tech Trader Daily.

HPE closed at $15.20, down 0.2%, on Tuesday.

— Mitch Wagner, , West Coast Bureau Chief, Light Reading. Got a tip about SDN or NFV? Send it to [email protected].