Telefonica, Turk Telekom team up in German market

The German unit of Spanish telecoms group Telefonica has signed a strategic partnership with Turk Telekom to market joint communications services leveraging their respective fixed and mobile services, content, applications, distribution and brands. Combining the infrastructure and technologies of both Telefonica Germany and Turk Telekom, the first plans under the cooperation will be available from summer 2011 and will be aimed at Germany’s ethnic Turks. ‘By cooperating with Turk Telekom and [its mobile branch] Avea, we are able to offer the millions of Turks in Germany and in their home country propositions exactly tailored to their needs,’ commented Rene Schuster, CEO of Telefonica Germany, adding: ‘The offer is also attractive to German customers, business or consumers, who have an affinity with Turkey. The offer will be marketed by a combined Turkish and German team and will be available in all channels.’ Meanwhile, K. Gökhan Bozkurt, CEO of Turk Telekom, said: ‘As Turkey’s leading communication and convergence technologies group, we are happy to extend our services to Turks in Germany via a successful partnership with Telefonica Germany. This is a perfect opportunity to remove the borders between the two countries in terms of telecommunication services and provide the customers value added offers.’