Mobile phone giant Nokia announced on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement with Sonera Zed to jointly develop new architecture and applications for value-added wireless services.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will also cooperate in systems integration as well as sales and marketing, targeting mobile telephone service operators worldwide, Nokia said in a statement.
Sonera Zed, a U.K.-based subsidiary of Finnish telecommunications operator Sonera Corp., provides mobile services aimed at consumers. The services are delivered via the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) specification for accessing Internet-based content and the SMS (Short Message Services) technology for text messaging between mobile phones.
Apart from Finland, where the company said it has more than 700,000 regular users, Sonera Zed through its partners also has operations in Germany, the Philippines, Singapore, Turkey and the U.S., according to information on the company's Web site.
In August, Sonera Zed launched a Zed-branded service in the Netherlands, and said that its U.K. service will be operational later this year.