(Telecompaper) Telefonica and seed investor Coral Group have joined forces to create an investment platform aimed at accelerating the development of innovative products and initiatives for the operator's customers in Europe and Latin America. Under the terms of the strategic partnership Telefonica will invest USD 200 million in Coral's Communications Investment Platform (CIP) via its Open Future programme. Telefonica said its investment in CIP would help it to form "innovation factories" to accelerate the creation of new and disruptive technologies for its 320 million customers. The partners added that they are looking to expand the reach of the CIP with up to four additional communication service providers around the world, ultimately investing up to USD 1 billion in new technologies and services to reach 1-2 billion customers.