Vodafone Group penned an agreement to sell a range of Oppo smartphones across its European footprint, with a heavy focus on accelerating the operator’s 5G strategy.

In a statement, the operator said a number of the Chinese vendor’s 4G and 5G smartphones would be offered across multiple price points, including the Oppo Reno; A; and Find X series, from this month.

Vodafone emphasised Oppo’s next-generation credentials, noting the partnership would deliver “more choice and accelerate 5G adoption” in its markets.

In the first phase of the agreement, smartphones will be sold across Vodafone retail channels in Germany; the UK; Spain; Portugal; Romania; Turkey; and the Netherlands. Other regions will be added at later dates.

Vodafone expressed confidence in Oppo’s ability to deliver, noting most of its manufacturing facilities were back to normal operations after Covid-19 (coronavirus) shutdowns.

The operator group is eager to accelerate its 5G strategy: Netherlands unit VodafoneZiggo claimed to have launched next-generation services in late April, using Ericsson spectrum sharing technology to repurpose 4G frequencies.

Strategy Analytics ranked Oppo as the world’s fifth-largest smartphone vendor by shipments during Q1.