Vodafone GmbH is a mobile telecommunications operator in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
headquartered in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
. It provides
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
,
LTE,
5G,
cable internet,
landlines,
cable TV, and IPTV services. As of the third quarter of 2021, Vodafone GmbH has more than 31 million mobile customers in Germany, making it the third-largest provider of mobile phone services in Germany. The company's headquarters are in the suburb of
Heerdt in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...
, with regional offices throughout Germany. Vodafone Germany's
main competitors are
Telekom Deutschland (Deutsche Telekom's German private customer unit) and
Telefónica Germany
Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG (; also called Telefónica Deutschland ) is a provider of broadband, landline and mobile telecommunications in Germany. The company trades as O2 (typeset as O2).
The company was renamed from Telefónica O ...
.
Vodafone Germany's network serves both
prepaid and
postpaid
The postpaid mobile phone is a mobile phone for which service is provided by a prior arrangement with a mobile network operator. The user in this situation is billed after the fact according to their use of mobile services at the end of each mon ...
customers on
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
and LTE (
Long Term Evolution
In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by us ...
). In July 2019, Vodafone started providing
5G services. At the end of 2010, Vodafone had 36.676 million mobile phone or mobile internet customers and 3.945 million customers with a DSL / VDSL connection.
History
The company in its present form resulted from Vodafone's takeover of the German engineering group
Mannesmann GmbH in 2000. On 8 December 1989, the West German
Federal Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications (
de; one of several predecessors of the present-day
Bundesnetzagentur) awarded the second digital
GSM-900
GSM frequency bands or frequency ranges are the cellular frequencies designated by the ITU for the operation of GSM mobile phones and other mobile devices.
Frequency bands
GSM frequency usage around the world
A dual-band 900/1800 device ...
(also known as
D-Netz (
de; ''D-Network'' in Germany) network in Germany to Mannesmann, as the first private company in Germany to break the monopoly of the telecommunications services operated by
Deutsche Bundespost
The Deutsche Bundespost (German federal post office) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 19 ...
(now
Deutsche Telekom). This licence was subsequently expanded to cover the former East Germany after
German reunification in 1991. Mannesmann subsequently began operations of its mobile network on 30 June 1992. It was rebranded Vodafone D2 in 2002.
In February 2011, Vodafone Germany started providing IPTV via DSL and VDSL connections. In April 2011, Vodafone Germany started to distribute
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
content via IPTV.
Following Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Germany started selling the Apple
iPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S (originally styled as iPhone 4 S, retroactively stylized with a lowercase 's' as iPhone 4s as of September 2013) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fifth generation of the iPhone, succ ...
in September 2011.
As of 2014, the company owns around 75% of
Kabel Deutschland and in 2019
Unitymedia
Vodafone GmbH is a mobile telecommunications operator in Germany headquartered in Düsseldorf. It provides mobile phone, LTE, 5G, cable internet, landlines, cable TV, and IPTV services. As of the third quarter of 2021, Vodafone GmbH has more ...
was merged with Vodafone.
In February 2020, the Unitymedia brand will be phased out from market, according to Vodafone Germany.
Sponsoring
The company sponsored the
AMG-Mercedes
Mercedes-AMG GmbH, commonly known as AMG, is the high-performance subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz AG. AMG independently hires engineers and contracts with manufacturers to customize Mercedes-Benz AMG vehicles. The company has its head ...
team in the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
,
Blancpain Sprint Series and
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters
The Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) is a grand touring car series sanctioned by ITR e.V. who have been affiliated to the DMSB- FIA since 1984. The series is based in Germany, with rounds elsewhere in Europe. The s ...
.
References
External links
*
Vodafone
Companies based in Düsseldorf
Mobile phone companies of Germany
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