Vodafone and French number-two operator SFR renewed their strategic global alliance, focusing on the development of new business opportunities in France and globally.

The non-equity agreement is for four years and builds on the cooperation between the two companies, which started in 2002.

The SFR Business Team and Vodafone Global Enterprise outfit will work together on new business opportunities such as M2M services, 3G and 4G roaming and unified communications.

Vodafone will continue to offer a range of its Global Enterprise services to SFR business customers in France, which is an important enterprise market for Vodafone with many of its multinational customers having headquarters or satellite offices in the country.

SFR customers will continue to have access to Vodafone’s mobile and fixed networks across nearly 30 markets and approximately 50 partner markets globally.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone, said the agreement builds “on a longstanding and successful collaboration”, while SFR CEO Jean-Yves Charlier added that it “bolsters both companies’ positions in the key enterprise market in France”.

Vodafone was previously a shareholder of SFR but sold its 44 per cent stake to French media company Vivendi three years ago in a €7.95 billion deal.

Vodafone was not linked to SFR when it recently became apparent that Vivendi wanted to sell the French operator. This is despite France being the only one of the top five European mobile markets in which Vodafone is not an operator.

Vivendi agreed at the beginning of April to accept an offer from cable company Altice to acquire SFR. The €13.5 billion cash offer, which allows Vivendi to hold a 20 per cent stake in the merged entity, beat a last minute bid from rival French operator Bouygues.