SingTel, Samsung join hands to accelerate mobile data growth

NEW DELHI: SingTel Group and Samsung today unveiled a suite of joint initiatives cutting across areas such as marketing, content and technology to bring seamless mobile data experience for customers. The initiatives will be launched by entities in the SingTel Group - SingTel in Singapore, Optus in Australia, AIS in Thailand, Airtel in India and Africa, Globe Telecom in the Philippines and Telkomsel in Indonesia, the companies said in a joint statement.

"Initiatives under this partnership include a retail collaboration programme, direct carrier billing, regional mobile application development challenge and direct access to selected apps," the statement said.

The retail collaboration programme simplifies the customer retail experience by providing a one-stop shop for their smartphone needs at selected stores of Samsung and the SingTel Group's regional mobile associates. This initiative is now available to customers of Globe Telecom (Philippines) and will be progressively made available to customers of Airtel (India) and Telkomsel (Indonesia), it added.

"Our association with Samsung in particular has helped us propel smartphone penetration and data adoption in the country and the launch of Samsung Galaxy S5 is yet another step in this direction," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.