Published: 15/5 2014
TeliaSonera enters into a partnership with Zound Industries, the successful Swedish start-up company that offers designer audio accessories under the brands Urbanears, Marshall, Coloud and Molami.
Customers get the best possible experience anywhere and anytime through TeliaSonera's high-quality coverage and Zound Industries' award-winning audio accessories, such as Urbanear's headphones and speakers from Marshall.
Through the investment, TeliaSonera will acquire an ownership stake in Zound Industries. The partnership makes it possible for TeliaSonera to offer stylish headphones, speakers and trendy mobile phone cases together with attractive mobile phone subscriptions.
"We want to offer our customers the best possible experience when they use our services, and music is an important part of this. A good customer experience not only requires good coverage and high quality of the gadgets used, but also functional accessories such as Zound Industries' stylish headphones and superior quality of speakers," says Lars Roth, head of the new unit Innovestments at TeliaSonera.
"By investing in Zound Industries, we are taking the next step in our strategy to work in partnership to offer our customers the latest and greatest to make the most of the connected lifestyle."
The partnership also provides access to Zound Industries' various brands Urbanears, Marshall, Coloud and Molami. The accessories from Zound Industries are sold today in 20,000 stores in 95 markets.
"The deal is a perfect opportunity for us to reach out to the fashion-conscious user of telecom services," says Pernilla Ekman, CEO of Zound Industries. "We can already see a number of exciting opportunities by combining the strengths of our companies. Zound Industries has enjoyed strong growth in recent years and through the partnership with TeliaSonera, we expect the rate of growth to increase further.”
Telia's ongoing campaign in Sweden, where customers receive a Marshall speaker when purchasing a mobile phone subscription, is an example of the type of offers that the partnership enables in all of TeliaSonera's markets in the future.
"Attractive offers drive traffic to our stores," says Lars Roth. "We have great experience working with our partnership with Spotify and we have now taken the next step by investing in an innovative company that enables TeliaSonera to be first with the latest trendy and functional accessories. Together, we will also develop products exclusively for TeliaSonera's brands."
