Operator group Vodafone has signed a deal that sees it setting up its own M2M brand in Brazil, the first fully Vodafone branded operation to be launched in the Americas.

The operator inked a non-equity partnership agreement with local MVNE Datora Telecom to launch Vodafone Brasil, which will primarily serve Vodafone’s multinational enterprise customers’ M2M needs, using Telecom Italia’s TIM Brazil network.

Vodafone operates in over 30 countries worldwide but to extend its geographic reach the operator group also participates in non-equity partner market agreements in around 50 additional countries.

According to a Vodafone spokesperson the partnership with Datora is set up to support multinational customers in Brazil.

“About half of our 1,500 customers have employees based in Brazil, and this has grown ahead of the World Cup and Olympics in Brazil next year,” the spokesperson said.

“Increasingly, they’re asking for support out there and particularly in the M2M space, typically in the fastest growing sectors, such as the automotive sector. Dakota Telecom is an MVNE and it has an agreement with Telecom Italia’s TIM network. and it resells to MVNOs – so it acts like an aggregator. We are now serving more than 11 million M2M connections globally.”

Earlier this week, Vodafone confirmed that it has taken legal action against Telecom Italia for abuse of a dominant position in the Italian market. The group is seeking damages of more than €1bn.