Vodafone forms agreement with Polkometal

Telecomms giant Vodafone has formed a new partner market agreement with former subsidiary Polkometal in Poland.

The non-equity partnership agreement will add Poland to Vodafone's customers' existing contracts for international managed services, while continuing to be serviced via a single point of contact, while Polkometal will gain access to Vodafone's joint products and services for business and consumer customers.

Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Partner Markets, Ravinder Takkar, said: "Our agreement with Polkomtel provides an opportunity for Vodafone to strengthen further its presence in Eastern Europe.

"We are delighted to renew our relationship with Polkomtel through our successful Partner Market community, which includes more than 50 markets worldwide."

Polkomtel has a customer base of approximately 14m and provides services in Poland under the Plus brand. Vodafone's operations in the region include the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Romania.

Vodafone, whose partner market agreements in the region include Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine, disposed of a minority stake of 24.4% in Polkomtel in 2011 as part of its strategy to realise value from its non-controlled assets.

The share price fell 1.05% to 183.85p by 09:21.

NR