17th Apr 2008 12:01
Vodafone Group Plc17 April 2008 17 April 2008 VODAFONE WELCOMES SERBIA TO ITS GLOBAL COMMUNITY AS 41ST PARTNER MARKET Vodafone today announces that it has extended its Partner Market agreement withmobilkom austria group to Serbia, where Vodafone will introduce a range ofVodafone-branded products and services through mobilkom austria's subsidiary,"Vip mobile". This agreement will make Serbia Vodafone's 41st Partner Market - anetwork across the world where Vodafone products and services are availablethrough partnerships with mobile operators that Vodafone does not own. "Serbia is an important telecommunications market in Europe and developingrapidly, and we are pleased that Vodafone is now able, through its partnershipwith Vip mobile, to offer a full range of international products and servicesfrom Vodafone to the Serbian market. We enjoy a long and very good cooperationwith mobilkom austria group which is known for its innovation leadership and itshigh quality standards and are happy to extend this cooperation to Serbia." saysPaul-Gerhard Itjeshorst, Executive, Vodafone Partner Market. Vip was the first operator in Serbia to introduce the Blackberry(R) fromVodafone in December 2007. "It is a partnership for the benefit or our customers. It brings together theworlds of the leading international communications group and Vip mobile. Socustomers will enjoy the best of both worlds." stated Alexander Sperl, CEO Vipmobile. Thanks to the partnership, Vip customers will enjoy in the future even moreinnovative services, exclusive handsets and the international roaming footprintof Vodafone. Several members of mobilkom austria group, such as mobilkom austria (Austria),Vipnet (Croatia), Mtel (Bulgaria) and Si.mobil (Slovenia), have already joinedthis partnership. Vip mobile will add the Vodafone logo on all products andservices that are offered as the result of this agreement. - ends - For further information: Vodafone GroupInvestor Relations Media RelationsTel: +44 (0) 1635 664447 Tel: +44 (0) 1635 664444 Notes to Editors About Vodafone Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile communications group withover 252 million proportionate customers as at 31 December 2007. Vodafonecurrently has equity interests in 25 countries across five continents and afurther 41 partner networks worldwide. For more information, please visitwww.vodafone.com Vip On December 1, 2006 Vip, member of mobilkom austria group, was granted thelicence for the third mobile operator in Serbia, The license for GSM 900/1800plus UMTS is valid for 10-year period and it can be prolonged automatically foranother 10 years. The licence obligation is for 80% population coverage in afour-year period. The first Vip mobile postpaid offer was launched on 19thOctober, 2007. Vip was the first to introduce "BlackBerry(R) from Vodafone" onthe market. Vip is the biggest greenfield investor in Serbia to-date, investing99,4 Million Euro in capital expenditure in 2007. At the end of 2007 Vip mobilehad more than half a million customers and employed 445 experts. More information: www.vipmobile.co.yu mobilkom austria group Members of the mobilkom austria group, the mobile communication segment ofTelekom Austria Group, are: mobilkom austria (Austria), Vipnet (Croatia),Si.mobil (Slovenia), mobilkom liechtenstein (Liechtenstein), Mobiltel (Bulgaria), Vip mobile (Serbia) and Vip operator (Macedonia) and the latest acquisition, MDC (Belarus). Around 8,000 employees serve more than 15.4 million customers. At the full year for 2007 the mobilkom austria group recorded revenues of EUR3,035.1 million, EBITDA of EUR 1,177.6 million and operating income of EUR 637,5million. mobilkom austria group stands for innovation, both in marketing andtechnology. The launch of the worldwide first GPRS network in Austria in 2000,the introduction of the EDGE technology as the first company in Slovenia in2003, the first launch of a UMTS network in Europe and Austria in 2002 and thefirst European launch of HSDPA 7.2 in Austria and Croatia in 2007 only prove itsinnovative role. The know-how transfer among the group members and marketsprovides rapid development and implementation of all products and servicesthroughout the group. Since 2003 mobilkom austria group has a partnershipagreement with Vodafone. More information: www.mobilkomaustriagroup.net This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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