Malaysia-based Axiata Group has signed a global framework agreement with multiple vendors, as it seeks to save $100 million in procurement costs over three years.
The operator plans to establish a common streamlined procurement platform that will be used by the Axiata group of operating companies to purchase products and services from the vendors.
The agreement aims to take advantage of the scale of Axiata's purchasing volumes across five countries in the APAC region.
The framework agreement includes vendors including Ericsson, Huawei, NEC and SIAE.
“Speed is crucial in the telecommunications industry and this agreement reduces the time required by each of the companies in purchasing products and services thereby translating into faster time to market which will ultimately benefit customers, Axiata CEO Dato' Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim said.
“We look forward to working closely with all our vendors, towards a mutually beneficial agreement.”
Axiata's operating footprint includes subsidiaries and associates Celcom in Malaysia, XL in Indonesia, Dialog in Sri Lanka, Robi in Bangladesh, Smart in Cambodia, Idea in India and M1 in Singapore.