MADRID -- Etisalat and Telefonica, two leading telecomoperators worldwide, today jointly announced that they have signed a Strategic PartnershipAgreement to enter into a broad-based cooperation. The partnership will allow both Groups tocollaborate on a range of strategic areas given their capabilities and expertise. As a result, thecompanies will strengthen their capabilities to address global industry trends and compete in eachof their markets, capturing efficiencies and advancing initiatives aimed at better serving theircustomers needs across their respective footprints.

Under the terms of the Agreement, the companies will establish mechanisms to enable them todraw on each other’s experience in various strategic areas, including collaboration ontechnological standardization, new global technology initiatives, R&D, and new emerging productsand services designed to capture the digital growth opportunities such as M2M, financial servicesor cloud-based services. Additionally and taking advantage of the benefits of the TelefónicaPartners Program, both companies have also agreed to jointly work on procurement, internationalcapacity and wholesale services as well as offering enhanced support for multinational customersof each operatorThe Partnership Agreement, which is effective immediately, will enable both companies toimprove efficiency, drive innovation and generate savings. The agreement is expected to reinforceeach company’s leadership in their markets, and provide a stronger basis to compete globally inthe changing telecommunications industry.

The two Groups do not compete in any of their operational markets and these benefits will beoffered to most of their subsidiaries and associates over the course of the agreement. TheEtisalat Group is today represented in 18 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, whilstTelefónica’s footprint has been established in 25 markets in Europe and Latin America.

Telefónica SA (NYSE: TEF)

Etisalat