Vodafone Group struck an alliance with SoftBank to step up support and provide enhanced services for its enterprise customers in Japan.

In a statement, Vodafone said the alliance would better enable “commercial and operational support” for its multinational enterprise customers with a presence in the country.

The move comes more than a decade after Vodafone sold off its telecoms operations in Japan in 2006 to SoftBank for almost £9 billion following a decision to exit under-performing markets. That deal was also a signal of SoftBank’s ambitions to become a global powerhouse.

Today’s announcement by Vodafone follows similar agreements struck by the UK-based operator to leverage local networks to provide voice and data capabilities for its range of enterprise partners. The strategy is overseen by Vodafone’s Partner Markets division, which was established in 2002 and today handles 31 partnerships in more than 45 countries, according to its website.

This year, for example, Vodafone also struck agreements with Sweden-based Tele2 and T-Mobile US, while in 2016 deals were agreed with Iran-based ISP Hiweb and StarHub in Singapore.

Of the deal with SoftBank, Vodafone Partner Markets chief executive Diego Massidda said it “brings together two of the leading communications companies to provide enterprise customers with the most innovative and responsive service and support in Japan”.