Telefónica and China Unicom are to share their data centre capabilities as part of a broader collaboration in cloud services.
The deal sees Telefónica use China Unicom’s data centres in Langfang, Shanghai and Chongqing in order to target customers in Asia, while China Unicom will make use of Telefónica’s facilities in Spain, Brazil and the US in order to boost its presence in Europe and the Americas.
As well as sharing infrastructure, Telefónica said the deal provided the opportunity to develop common data platforms and simplify data sharing.
It would also reduce the need to hire new technicians, the Spain-based operator said.
Further, the two operators said they planned to cooperate on virtualised Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and “multi-cloud” solutions targeting multinational clients.
Telefónica revealed the agreement could be extended to additional facilities over time.
The deal builds on a deal the two companies signed in June to jointly source smartphones based on shared specifications.
[Read more: Apple to spend €1.7 billion on new European data centres]
“Telefónica has over 10 years’ experience in the construction and design of data processing centres,” Telefónica said in a statement.
“China Unicom’s customers will now have access to first-rate infrastructure and efficiencies derived from having no new build requirements.
“Collaboration of this kind also frees up resources for strategic tasks that are more valuable to enterprises and multinationals.
“Furthermore, customers can rest assured of the contractual service quality and use of industry best practices.”