The second quarter of this year was the best quarter ever for connections via the O2 UK 'partner channel', according to a statement from the company today. Blackberry connections through partners also reached a new quarterly high, as did connections via O2 Centre of Excellence partners and both of O2's strategic partners (Avenir and Azzurri).
Ben Dowd, O2’s Business Sales Director, said "I believe strongly in the partner channel and these results show that our partners also believe in us. In December 2009 I personally asked our channel partners to support our strategy to outpace the competition and achieve their best ever performance in 2010. I’m therefore delighted to have had our best ever quarter in Q2 and we thank our partners for their incredible performance. I also want to thank the dozen or so new partners who have recently moved to O2 from the competition for their belief in us. We fully intend to repay your belief in us over the coming years. We took a fair amount of criticism when we launched revenue share [in late 2008], but I thoroughly believe these results bear out the fact that it was the right thing to do."
Andy Tow, Managing Director of Avenir Telecom, said "We're delighted with all our partners performance and this has now set a standard for future months. Setting new sales records in the SME segment, as the effects of O2's strategic partnership with Avenir Telecom continues to bear fruit, is something I am extremely proud of."