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Vodafone surprised industry pundits today with the announcement of plans to step into the fixed broadband arena and a new partnership with RIM and Cisco.
Vodafone surprised industry pundits today with the announcement of plans to step into the fixed broadband arena and a joint partnership with RIM and Cisco.
The mobile phone carrier has partnered with Cisco and Research in Motion (best known for developing the Blackberry handheld device) to offer a bundle deal (aimed at mid sized businesses) that offers broadband, fixed line and mobile services.
According to Vodafone Fixed Line Services Chief, David McNaughton the new bundled service, Vodafone Business One, is currently being trialled in four sites throughout Sydney and is expected to be made available throughout Australia from October.
Whilst details of the pricing plans are yet to be revealed, Vodafone CEO Russell Hewitt said the model would stratify pricing into bands corresponding with its current business plans.
“My expectation is that if this works well there’s a whole bunch of the CEOs that I meet with on a monthly basis will be very keen to pick this up,” Mr Hewitt said.
The Business One offer will be a RIM exclusive – with no plans to offer a similar deal to Apple and the iPhone at this stage.
“I think RIM’s really proven itself as being the best in class smart phone out there in terms of the thought that has gone into those devices,” Vodafone business markets manager Hugh Humphrey said.
Source:
The Australian IT
