Vodafone Said to Be in Talks to Expand Marketing Agreement with Zain

­Vodafone Group is expected to sign a marketing deal with Kuwait’s Zain Group which would enable the Vodafone brand to expand across the Middle-East.

According to Bloomberg News reported the partnership would cover Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain.

The company has previously been in a partnership with Vodafone, when it was known as MTC-Vodafone. That deal was signed in September 2002, and appeared to end exactly 5 years later, in September 2007 when MTC rebranded as Zain.

Typically Vodafone partnerships see the networks co-branded while the network operator gains access to Vodafone roaming agreements and bulk-purchasing discounts. It is speculated that the new talks would see an apparently ongoing partnership expanded to include the co-branding as well.

Worth noting that the dropping of the co-branding took place 5 years after the initial contract, and it looks likely that any further development is taking place also 5 years after the last changes were made.