Sky has announced an agreement with Telefónica UK to offer mobile voice and data services to its customers for the first time. Telefónica, which operates under the O2 brand in the UK, is to give the company access to 2G, 3G and 4G services over its network in the UK, and Sky hopes to launch its services to customers in 2016.
Sky claims to be the UK’s most popular triple-play provider with almost 40 per cent of its customer base now taking all three of TV, telephony and broadband services. Its mobile TV service Sky Go has 5.7 million registered users, and allows users to watch content across multiple devices, offering a choice of up 70 live channels and content on demand.
“As the UK’s leading brand for home entertainment and communications, Sky has a proven ability to launch new services, at scale,” commetned Jeremy Darroch, group chief executive, Sky. “We know our 11.5 million customers trust Sky to offer them the best quality and choice and have an appetite to take more from us. Through our partnership with Telefónica UK, we can build on our expertise in content, innovation and service to launch a range of exciting new services and exploit the opportunities for growth in the fast-changing mobile sector.”
Tefonica last week confirmed it was in talks with Hutchison Whampoa, the owner of mobile network Three in the UK, over the sale of O2 for £10.25 billion. Also vying for space in the ‘quad-play’ market, BT recently revealed it is in exclusive talks to acquire the UK’s leading mobile operator EE for £12.5 billion.
Telefónica UK chief executive Ronan Dunne, added: “We’re pleased to welcome Sky to our roster of innovative, successful partnerships, through which we help partners grow their offer to customers. Sky understands the importance of a strong network and excellent customer experience and has made us a trusted partner to help deliver brilliant services. This will widen consumer choice still further and demonstrates the lively competitiveness of the UK market. We’re looking forward to working with Sky.”
