In order to offer the best products and services to its customers, Portugal Telecom has established strategic partnerships with the world’s best in the domains of innovation and technology. The latest examples are the partnerships with North-American companies Corning in the scope of the fibre deployment project, and Cisco in the domain of both business and residential devices and services, and with Asian companies LG and Samsung, for terminal devices for the wireline and wireless networks, and Huawei plus ZTE for network equipment.

According to PT’s chief executive, with the  partnerships established,  the conditions are met for PT to be able to offer the best services and products in the world

The partnerships established at world level reflect Portugal Telecom’s capacity to bring value to its partners and vice-versa. That is, it enables PT to receive and test new technologies in first hand, adapting them to the needs of its customers. For its partners, this is an opportunity to test in Portugal advanced solutions for more developed markets.

According to PT’s chief executive officer, projects in this domain, the creation of partnerships with the best world companies, contribute to PT’s international dimension. This is an ambitious project, just like the strategic goals of the company, which are not confined to “the heat of the moment”, in Zeinal Bava’s words. This is a project that is being developed in the course of the last two years”.

Strategic partnerships in Asia

After the strategic partnerships with the North-American leaders in terms of innovation have been established, PT is now focused on the other side of the world, in Asia. In this way, it is possible to associate the innovation capacity of the North-Americans with the huge growth driver, which is Asia, a developing economy where China and South Korea assume themselves as leaders at world level, betting on high quality solutions, but keeping competitive prices.

	Huawei is one of the latest strategic partners of PT

The bet on innovation, the emergence of new players and the competitive prices of Chinese products have strongly contributed to the establishment of four relevant partnerships with Asian companies. “Innovation is more than products and services; it is also a form of management. To be present in Asia with these partnerships forces us to call the game, to open our eyes to the world. It forces us into a qualitative jump”, says Zeinal Bava.

In China, PT has set up agreements with Huawei and ZTE, two companies headquartered in Shenzen, a city appointed by the World Bank as the second city in terms of investment conditions for foreign companies in China.

• Huawei has been delivering global telecommunications solutions for more than 20 years. It has partnerships established with operators from all over the world and an extensive portfolio of products such as mobile networks, broadband, ALL-IP fibre optic networks, and high-value added telecommunications services. Its R&D investment enabled the creation of global R&D centres in Silicon Valley and Dallas (USA), Stockholm (Sweden), Moscow (Russia) and Bangalore (India) apart from other six in Chinese territory. Its dynamism and the quality of its offer are reflected on its sales volume.

• In China, apart from Huawei, PT has also established a partnership with ZTE

  The priority for ZTE, just like PT, is innovation. A proof of that are its 15 R&D centres and institutes in Europe, America and Asia. Its extensive range of products comprehends wireline and wireless networks, telecommunications software, and mobile devices, among others. The company promotes a close cooperation with several top-ranking companies in the telecommunications industry for the creation of products and services more suited to each market.

In Korea, PT has set up agreements with two of the most conceited electronics companies: Samsung and LG. These partnerships will be important for PT to keep providing its customers with leading-edge services.

• LG is one of the world leaders in terms of consumer electronics, mobile communications and home appliances. It also has a leading position in mobile communications devices (3rd largest mobile phone manufacturer), flat-screen TV sets, and audio and video products among others. The company stands out for the smart features of its products, their intuitive use and high performance.
• Samsung Electronics, created in 1969, is the largest manufacturer of electronic products in the world. Its portfolio contains audio, video, computing or mobile communications products. Its leadership is clear in LCD displays, in partnership with Sony for its production and development, and in mobile phones as second largest world manufacturer. Its innovative technology, exceptional design and quality of its products have all contributed to the valuation of its brand, currently one of the most valuable worldwide.

Portugal Telecom’s chief executive highlights the importance of the relationships with Asian companies: “”We are doing pioneer work in this domain, representing an added value for PT and for the Portuguese engineers working for the group, who apart from training stages in 13 different countries, may also become part of teams working in some of the most innovative companies in the world”.

These partnerships are based on common interests of both companies, such as for example delivering the best and most advanced telecommunications services to their customers worldwide, through a close cooperation to develop, test and implement innovative solutions. On the other hand, they ensure knowledge sharing among participants: the partners will provide PT with leading edge technologies, using Portugal for pilot-tests, supply technological support for strategic products and the necessary training to the sales force.

Zeinal Bava stresses that “the investment in these partnerships is only relevant in terms of human resources, not in terms of capital. In a few weeks, we will have a regular team interchange. There will be between 100 and 150 people from PT directly involved in this process: people who will work together with PT’s technological partners in prototype development. We will become specialists with this process”.

The partnerships now established formalise an old relationship between PT and these Asian leaders, visible through the collaboration in the scope of mobile phones, such as the development of the TMN Bluebelt smartphone, broadband boards, leading edge technologies GPON and Femto-cells, and more innovative solutions to come in the future.

Chinese partners Huawei and ZTE will share with PT their leading edge solutions in terms of mobile and fixed networks as well as terminal devices, always keeping PT at the forefront of technological innovation.

Korean partners LG and Samsung, holding a leading position in terms of terminal devices will enable PT to add more functionalities, derived from the technological evolution of the devices in its offering.

PT started its internationalisation process through its operations, having successfully expanded in its favourite geographic zones, Brazil and Africa, holding today strategic participations in leading operators in the 13 countries where it operates, thus generating 50% of its revenues internationally.

There is a second wave of internationalisation taking place nowadays. By associating a set of technological partnerships in America and Asia to its operations and partners in Europe, PT positions itself as an innovative operator at global scale, with full access to the big agents of growth and research in today’s world.