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By Helen Reid
LONDON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Vodafone has agreed apartnership with Iranian internet firm HiWeb to help moderniseits network, the companies said on Tuesday, making the Britishcompany the latest Western firm to enter Iran after sanctionswere lifted.
Vodafone, the world's second-largest mobile phone company,said the agreement to help modernise HiWEB's network and ITinfrastructure would also benefit its multinational corporateclients when they travel to Iran.
Many European companies have sought to capitalise on theopening up of the region's second largest economy since U.S.sanctions against were lifted on Jan. 16 after Iran agreed tocurtail its atomic energy programme.
With a young population and high levels of mobile ownership,Iran is seen as an opportunity for telecoms companies seeking toexpand into frontier markets.
"Vodafone's corporate customers will get the benefit ofquality network services in the country and HiWEB will be ableto access Vodafone's global expertise," Vodafone Partner MarketsChief Executive Diego Massidda said in a statement on Tuesday.
Vodafone's French rival Orange said at the end ofAugust it was in talks with the Mobile Telecommunication Companyof Iran, the country's largest mobile operator.
Privatised in 2009, HiWEB got a nationwide licence to supplymobile internet services (LTE) in 2014 and has won a governmentcontract to provide high-speed internet exclusively to 25,000villages across the country for a decade.
It is also looking to expand its mobile and fixed servicesin cities with a focus on business clients.
Other British companies entering Iran include BritishAirways, which resumed direct flights to Tehran in September,and BP which was reported to have bought crude from theNational Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) this month.
Vodafone said it would assist HiWEB in marketing,distribution and sales, including the provision of Internet ofThings (IoT) services which involve enabling internetconnectivity for cars and other objects.
British employers' group the CBI welcomed the news, sayingBritain needed to develop its export links more than everfollowing the June vote to leave the European Union.
"Businesses recognise there are emerging opportunities inIran," a spokesman said. "As with other Gulf states, Iran has agrowing middle class and infrastructure, energy and educationalprojects in need of foreign investment." (Reporting by Helen Reid, Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holtonand David Clarke)
