Swedish telecommunications operator TeliaSonera AB said Thursday it has signed a cooperation agreement with music streaming service provider Spotify in order to ramp up its service offering and attract new customers. Under the two-year agreement, TeliaSonera will develop Spotify’s music service for computers, mobile phones and eventually television, the Stockholm-based company said.
In a few months, Telia and Spotify will launch a mobile offering to customers in the Swedish market, it added. TeliaSonera’s Swedish head of broadband services, Stefan Trampus, told Dow Jones Newswires that his company signed the deal with Spotify to attract new customers and make existing ones more loyal through an improved service offering.
TeliaSonera plans to make Spotify available on a number of new platforms, he said, adding that it expects to distribute the service on television some time next year by installing it in digital TV boxes. A number of companies across the telecoms sector have recently announced plans to increase their focus on consumer content.
Finland’s Nokia Corp., the world’s largest handset maker, earlier this year launched the Ovi application download store to compete with Apple Inc.’s App Store, and also announced the creation of a new Solutions unit that will integrate its offerings of services and mobile phones.
Spotify, which is funded by paid subscriptions and advertising, was launched in 2008 and is currently available in a number of European countries including Sweden, the U.K, and France.
Around 5.5 million people worldwide currently use the music service, according to TeliaSonera.
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