Telefónica and China Unicom are collaborating to jointly procure smartphones for customers in Europe, China and Latin America.
The device teams of the two companies will deliver Lenovo and TCL smartphones after completing joint procurement projects for 4G smartphones since the beginning of the year, including research projects, product specifications and global RFQ negotiations. These devices were chosen to meet shared specifications and help the two companies to deliver data services.
The models will be available to consumers in the second half of 2015 in Europe, China and Latin America, allowing the Chinese smartphone brands Lenovo and TCL a wider market reach.
This project is the first of many procurement activities, with the two companies also set to work on other joint strategic initiatives.
Telefónica currently owns a 2.5 percent stake in China Unicom, which is China’s second-largest mobile operator behind China Telecom. It divested half of its shares back in November 2014 for $860 million.
"This important milestone is the first step of future common procurement activities, as we have explored and achieved an innovative way of procurement cooperation between the 2 world-class telecom operators," a statement from Telefónica read.
