Vodafone taps 7000 resellers with landmark Synnex deal

Synnex has signed a distribution agreement for Vodafone's voice and data plans.

The deal "completes the loop" for Synnex's mobile distribution catalogue, which already includes a wide range of mobile devices – including Apple's iPad range; smartphones from Sony; and devices from HP, Lenovo, Asus, Samsung, Huawei, Acer and Toshiba.

Synnex's 7,000 resellers will be able to order voice and data plans bundled with device sales, or sell standalone plans said Arthur Gimisis, the distie's sales director. "The focus is on mobility plans for businesses of any size."

The plans on offer are Red plans, Red SIM-only plans, Red Business Grow and Red Business Shared.

Synnex expects to simplify the mandatory 100-point identity check. "This ID plus Vodafone paperwork is submitted via Red Source [Vodafone's dealer extranet]. These files will go to the dedicated Vodafone Synnex sales support team in Melbourne who will then process, and credit check, the order goes directly into Siebel [Vodafone's provisioning system]," said Gimisis.

The deal with Synnex – "a world-class distributor" – will be a shot in the arm for Vodafone's business-to-business ambitions, said Stuart Kelly, Vodafone's executive general manager enterprise. “This is a truly exciting partnership for Vodafone as it allows us to expand our B2B distribution capabilities and increase our market share in the business space."

While not as common as hardware or software distribution agreements, it is not unknown for disties to partner with telcos. For instance, Dicker Data represents Telstra, while Tech Pacific – which was acquired by Ingram Micro in 2004 – used to provide Vodafone products to its reseller base.

Vodafone's distribution move with Synnex follows sister publication BIT's report last week of the telco slashing prices for plans aimed at the SMB market.

Kee Ong, chief executive of Synnex Australia & New Zealand, said its resellers could now offer customers "a complete solution".

“Vodafone mobile plans have opened a new range of trade opportunities to Synnex’s resellers. These additional data and voice services plans have completed the loop of a turnkey mobility solution.

“Now, our resellers are not only selling mobility hardware or software such as tablets, notebook, but data and voice plan as a complete solution.

“This is just more evidence which showcases Synnex’s commitment to all our channel partners. We are continuously in the market to source and distribute full ranges of innovative solutions," added Kee Ong.

The telco will be hoping its deal with Synnex can turn around its fortunes, following this week's news that Vodafone Australia lost around $184 million and 45,000 customers in its first half of this year.

Australia's third largest telco pulled in around $1.8 billion in total revenue for the half - an increase of 3 percent on the same time last year - and stable net service revenue of $1.4 billion. Its gross revenue per user rose from $50.79 to $51.32 due to take-up of its high-end Red plans.

About the plans

• Red: Standard national talk and text, 300 minutes of standard international calls. Starts at $70 with 4GB data
• Red SIM-only: Standard national talk and text, 300 minutes of standard international calls. Starts at $50 with 3GB of data.
• Red Business Grow: Unlimited standard national talk and text. 300 international minutes to 20 countries. Starts at $50 with 3GB data
• Red Business Shared. Unlimited standard national talk and text. 300 international minutes to 20 countries. Data depends on number of users, from $135 and 3GB shared data for 2-3 users up to $4,500 for 2-100 users and 100GB shared data

Story updated with more detail on other telco-distributor partnerships. A previous version of this story said "it is thought this is the first time a hardware distributor has added phone and data plans to its portfolio".