Posted by Charlie on 15 February 2012
Vodafone UK has entered into a partnership with Cubic, a telecommunications firm operating in Ireland. Although the main thrust of the deal is structured so as to improve Cubic's outreach into the market for mobile phone and data services, the partnership will also be of benefit to Cubic customers living in the UK.
The deal will enable Cubic to establish itself as an MVNO, or mobile virtual network operator. Cubic has already specialised in a single narrow segment of the mobile industry: providing international roaming services at a low cost for mobile users. With the new agreement, consumers who are using MaxRoam, a pre-paid roaming service arrangement, will be able to get low roaming rates on data and texting in more than 200 different countries. In all, the arrangement will have Cubic using the infrastructure put in place by more than 600 different mobile phone networks.
When texting or downloading data in the UK, MaxRoam customers from abroad will have to pay only the local UK rate. This is of benefit to foreign visitors who participate in the service. More important to UK residents is the other provision of the deal. Cubic's UK customers will now be able to make use of a single sim card both abroad and at home, thanks to IMSI technology – International Mobile Subscribers Identities.
According Nick Parbutt, who serves Vodafone as director of wholesale services, Vodafone is committed to a growth strategy involving such partnerships.