O2 and BT strengthen relationship in deal worth several hundreds of millions over five years
O2 and BT Wholesale today announced a significant extension to their existing relationship, which allowed O2 to enter the fixed-line market for business customers back in 2009. The new contract extension, in itself worth several hundreds of millions of pounds over five years, will see the two companies working together to provide an integrated suite of ICT services for UK businesses.
The agreement includes connectivity, infrastructure and professional services agreements.
The combination of O2 and BT Wholesale’s portfolio will enable O2 to offer its business customers a fully-integrated suite of ICT services, to include mobile, Ethernet and fibre broadband for the very first time.
Ben Dowd, O2’s Business Director said:
“We have seen a huge increase in the demand for integrated ICT services since we launched our first offering three years ago. Our relationship with BT Wholesale brings together world-class mobile and fixed-line connectivity so we can offer our business customers the best possible suite of services now and for the future. This deal supports our aim to help UK businesses grow.”
Nigel Stagg, CEO, BT Wholesale said:
“This takes our existing relationship with O2 to the next level enabling further expansion of the services O2 can offer to its business customers. Our national fibre network, Ethernet footprint and market-leading portfolio of wholesale products will support O2 in offering reliable and high quality connectivity that meets the growing expectations of both public and private sector organisations.”
In addition to superfast connectivity on O2’s growing 4G network - which now covers a third of the UK population - business customers will also benefit from speeds of up to 80 megabits per second over BT’s fibre broadband network. Additionally, O2 will benefit from BT Wholesale’s extensive national Ethernet network and product portfolio, which includes the widest range of access options in the market, to underpin their own fixed line based services.
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About O2
O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading digital communications company with the highest customer satisfaction for any mobile provider according to Ofcom. With over 23 million customers, O2 runs 2G, 3G and 4G networks across the UK, as well as operating O2 Wifi and owning half of Tesco Mobile. O2 has over 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team. Read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news.
Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc (a business division of Telefónica SA) which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK and Germany.
