Deutsche Telekom and Colt have announced a five-year partnership to provide international telephony services.
Colt will use Deutsche Telekom’s network to expand its voice services for wholesale and enterprises. Deutsche Telekom will have to access Colt’s voice network, allowing it to provide better support to its customers.
Both providers will benefit from lower network and voice termination costs outside their current network without the burden of large investment.
The move follows a series of mergers and acquisitions in the European telecoms industry; in the UK, BT is buying out EE and Three owner Hutchinson Whampoa is acquiring O2.
Richard Oosterom, Executive Vice President of Voice Services at Colt said: "A recent study commissioned by Colt, the Tech Deficit, showed that nearly eight out of nine enterprises recognise that their voice and communications infrastructure has to evolve to keep up with business demands. At the same time, we see an increasing demand for services from enterprise customers that require support not only in one country, but in several countries in Europe and beyond."
He continued: "Collaborating with Deutsche Telekom ICSS allows us shorten the time to expand and strengthen our offering and with considerably less risk than doing it by ourselves from the ground up, enabling us to better meet the requirements of our customers and retain our leadership position in the European telecoms market."
Holger Magnussen, Senior Vice President of International Carrier Sales & Solutions at Deutsche Telekom commented: "We are excited to work with Colt within our International Partnering program. We will be leveraging the significant investment ICSS has already made in our next-generation voice platform, systems and people for the benefit of our respective customer bases."
Magnussen added: "Working together means that we can improve our existing offering for the benefit of our customers. It also presents a great opportunity to collaborate on new products to attract new customers who might not have had us on their radar before. We’re looking forward to seeing how the partnership will propel the growth of both companies in the European market."
