London, UK. 06 July 2012 – Telefónica, which operates under the O2 brand in the UK, has agreed to further extend the partnership with G4S Utility Services (G4S) a leading international security solutions group and one of the UK’s major smart meter operations service providers.
The five year agreement, includes the provision of up to 1.4 million SIMs, and will provide G4S Utility Services with global SIM connectivity to support the delivery of services in the energy market. The multi-million pound contract is one of the largest ever M2M deals in the UK market.
Meanwhile, Telefónica Digital and Visa Europe today announced that they have agreed a wide ranging strategic partnership to drive new business opportunities within mobile commerce across Telefónica’s European footprint. The agreement will see both companies co-invest in the development of innovative products and services in areas such as mobile wallet, contactless payments (near field communications or NFC), acquirer services for mobile point of sale, and merchant offers.
G4S Utility Services awards Telefónica one of the UK’s biggest ever M2M wins
The partnership with G4S will further extend Telefónica’s capabilities in the energy sector which is experiencing growth both in the UK and worldwide. Under the agreement, the M2M platform will deliver up to 1.4m SIMs and, at its peak, Telefónica UK will be rolling out 70k SIM’s per month to meet G4S Utility Services required roll out plans underpinning the delivery of a managed service from G4S.
Kim Challis, managing director of G4S Utility Services, said, “G4S Utility Services is committed to the Telefónica UK partnership, and this is another great example of our successful work together. Telefónica UK provides G4S with the partnership and strategic relationship we require to continue to be successful in the Utility Services sector.”
The extension of the contract follows the announcement of the G4S contract awarded to Telefonica UK in March 2011 for a range of services including areas such as data transfer and security.
“The energy sector is a key area of focus for our M2M team and I am delighted that we have been able to extend our partnership with G4S Utility Services. This agreement truly takes the M2M market and in particular our offering to another level,” said Gilli Coston, head of M2M at Telefónica UK. “We are constantly evolving our offering into the market with an ambition of providing a whole new range of services which changes what our customers and partners are able to leverage in terms of technologies and what they in turn can offer to the market.”
Telefónica and Visa Europe form strategic relationship
The agreement with Visa Europe builds on Telefónica and Visa Europe’s existing relationship in markets such as the UK and Ireland, formalising it at a Europe-wide level and establishing Visa Europe as Telefónica’s preferred partner for the issuance of branded payments cards and the development of related mobile payment services.
Mobile commerce is a key focus area of Telefónica’s new Digital unit which was formed to drive business opportunities within the digital space. Within Europe, Telefónica has launched a mobile wallet service to customers in the UK and is working to launch mobile wallets across its other operating businesses.
The relationship with Visa Europe will support the continued development of these services, while also helping to identify and drive new business opportunities in areas such as merchant offers, mobile point of sale, and contactless/NFC payments. It combines Visa’s scale and expertise in payments with Telefónica’s European mobile footprint, strong consumer brands and existing experience in mobile payments. The partnership will also provide Telefónica with access to expertise within the network of Visa’s partner companies.
“Visa has been an important partner for a number of years in Europe, helping us to trial, test and ultimately launch mobile payments products,” said Joaquin Mata, director of Financial Services at Telefónica Digital. “This market has enormous untapped potential and through this partnership with Visa Europe we aim to unlock significant new business opportunities.”
Mariano Dima, executive vice president of Product and Marketing Solutions at Visa Europe, added: “We are delighted to have been appointed as Telefónica’s preferred mobile payments partner in Europe. We’ve worked together for many years to deliver mobile payments and service showcases across some of the most innovative countries in Europe. This partnership will deliver mainstream, commercial mobile payments on an international level.”
Telefónica is aiming to striking wide-ranging, open partnerships with a range of companies in order to develop the best possible mobile commerce services. In addition to Visa Europe, it has recently formed partnerships with Sybase and Giesecke & Devrient.
O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Ltd and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers. O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G/LTE, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as owning half of Tesco Mobile. It also operates O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Unify, O2 Media and has recently launched the O2 Wallet.
Telefónica UK Ltd is part of Telefónica Europe plc, which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic and is a business division of Telefónica SA.
Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its goal is to deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development, venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud computing, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. It is also driving innovation in over-the-top communications services under a new umbrella brand called Tu. Telefónica Digital will deliver these new products and services to Telefónica’s 309 million customers as well as leveraging the power of the internet to enter new markets. It is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao Paulo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Jajah, Terra, Tuenti, Media Networks Latin America, 48 and giffgaff are all managed under the Telefónica Digital umbrella.