Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Madrid, Spain -- Axiata Enterprise, the B2B unit of Axiata Group Berhad (“Axiata”), one of the leading telecommunications groups in ASEAN and South Asia, and Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world, today announced the signing of a Strategic Partnership Agreement to work together and benefit from their joint scale, combined expertise and market presence.

The agreement is supported by the Telefónica Partners Program, an initiative launched in 2011 and part of Telefónica Tech, which includes other leading telecom operators covering a total of 65 markets in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.

Covering eleven markets in the region, Axiata Enterprise joins the Program as the only Asian partner. The Partnership aims to deliver an ambitious regional growth plan fostering the digital transformation of its corporate customers across markets, leveraging on the complementary geographic footprints of the two companies in Asia, Europe and Latin America. With the shared focus on helping their customers to digitalize and make their businesses more competitive, both companies will collaborate in strategic areas to promote growth and capture synergies.

A key focus of their collaboration will be the provision of digital services including cybersecurity, cloud, IoT/Big Data, the three digital companies of Telefónica Tech. They will also pool resources to extend and develop new vertical offerings to industry segments such as agriculture and food, mining, energy or transport. Additionally, the companies will share their expertise in the B2B value chain and will cooperate in strategic projects. Under the agreement, they are also committed to exploring synergies in the international wholesale telecommunications market and other areas.

One of the key initial areas of collaboration will be Cybersecurity services. Supported by Telefónica Tech’s cybersecurity company ElevenPaths, Axiata Enterprise will be able to enhance its security services to corporate customers and improve the security of its networks. ElevenPaths is a leading player in markets where it operates with a comprehensive offering across the value chain powered by over 1,400 professionals and 11 SOCs located worldwide and operating globally. ElevenPaths has been recognized as a Leader in Gartner's 2019 Magic Quadrant for Managed Security Services.

Dr Gopi Kurup, Axiata Enterprise CEO, said: “Axiata is committed to bringing our customers the best in fit-for-purpose digital solutions. In this time of post-COVID-19 recovery, as businesses globally grapple to return to peak efficiency, we believe this strategic Telefónica partnership will accelerate our ability to meet with growing demand. We have great respect for Telefónica’s track record, especially on its digital and B2B capabilities, and see it as highly complementary to enhance our own in an effective manner. We are confident that this partnership is a step forward in making Axiata a New Generation Digital Champion by 2022.”

“Axiata is a company fully aligned with our aim of supporting customers to accelerate digital transformation of their organizations and the need of leveraging scale to provide best-in-market technology solutions and digital services. We are really excited about joining forces with one of the leading telcos in Asia, it will bring important benefits to both our Groups", said Jacobo García-Palencia, Strategic Alliances Group Director at Telefónica.