Microsoft announced two Office-related partnerships for small- to medium-size business (SMB), with AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona this week.
The AT&T Mobile Office Suite deal with the second-largest mobile carrier involves Microsoft's Office 365 apps, along with unified access to voice calls, email, calendars, messaging, HD video conferencing, and file sharing, on almost any mobile device.
The Microsoft Office 365 suite includes the usual apps – Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – plus Lync, Exchange, Outlook, and OneDrive, all usable from a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet. Lync allows for domestic or international voice calls while in the United States.
On the AT&T side of things, the wireless provider said the program would work "seamlessly with the AT&T wireless rate plan that fits small business needs," but didn't elaborate in the announcement. It said there would be transition planning and onboarding for SMBs, along with data migration, deployment services, and ongoing 24/7 technical support.
The suite is available on new or existing AT&T Windows Phone devices, including the newly announced Lumia 640 XL and the Lumia 830, as well as AT&T devices running on iOS or Android operating systems.
AT&T also plans to add Global Audio Conferencing later this year so users can join Lync-based meetings from almost anywhere in the world.
The Deutsche Telekom deal will offer Microsoft Lumia smartphones and services, such as Office 365 and OneDrive, across 12 European countries served by Deutsche Telekom. DT is the parent company of T-Mobile here in the U.S.
The agreement includes a joint international marketing campaign spanning advertising, sales support and training, custom application development, and experiential activities tailored by market. Deutsche Telekom will be a Windows 10 launch partner when the new mobile OS launches later this year.