telecommunications company
A telephone company, also known as a telco, telephone service provider, or telecommunications operator, is a kind of communications service provider (CSP), more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunicat ...
. Its
registered office
A registered office is the official address of an incorporated company, association or any other legal entity. Generally it will form part of the public record and is required in most countries where the registered organization or legal entity ...
services
Service may refer to:
Activities
* Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty
* Civil service, the body of employees of a government
* Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...
in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vodafone owns and operates networks in 22 countries, with partner networks in 48 further countries. Its
Vodafone Global Enterprise
Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited is a multinational company which provides telecommunications and information technology services to large corporations, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc. It is headquartered in London, Eng ...
division provides
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
and
IT services
Information technology service management (ITSM) is the activities that are performed by an organization to design, build, deliver, operate and control information technology (IT) services offered to customers.
Differing from more technology-or ...
to corporate clients in 150 countries.
Vodafone has a primary listing on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company has a secondary listing on Nasdaq.
Name
The name Vodafone comes from ''VO''ice ''DA''ta ''FONE'' (the latter a
sensational spelling
Sensational spelling is the deliberate spelling of a word in a non-standard way for special effect.
Branding
Sensational spellings are common in advertising and product placement. In particular, brand names such as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (''c ...
of " phone"), chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".
History
The evolution of Vodafone started in 1981 with the establishment of the Racal Strategic Radio Ltd subsidiary of
Racal Electronics
Racal Electronics plc was a British electronics company that was founded in 1950.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including voice loggers an ...
, the UK's largest maker of military radio technology, which formed a joint venture with
Millicom
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of ...
called 'Racal', which evolved into the present Vodafone.
As a Racal Telecom brand: 1980 to 1991
In 1980,
Ernest Harrison
Sir Ernest Thomas Harrison (11 May 1926 – 16 February 2009) was an English businessman. He was best known as chairman of electronics company Racal and the first chairman of its spun-out mobile telephony division, Vodafone
Vodafone Group ...
, the then chairman of Racal Electronics, agreed to a deal with Lord Weinstock of the General Electric Company to allow Racal to access some of GEC's tactical battlefield radio technology. The head of Racal's military radio division, Gerry Whent, was briefed by Ernest Harrison to drive the company into commercial mobile radio. Whent visited a mobile radio factory run by
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
(unrelated to GEC) in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, US, the same year to understand the commercial use of military radio technology.
Jan Stenbeck
Jan Hugo Robert Arne Stenbeck (; 14 November 1942 – 19 August 2002) was a Swedish business leader, media pioneer, sailor and financier. He was head of Kinnevik Group from 1976 and founded among other things the companies Comviq, Invik & C ...
, head of a growing Swedish conglomerate, set up an American company, Millicom Inc, and approached Gerry Whent in July 1982 about bidding jointly for the UK's second cellular radio licence. The two struck a deal giving Racal 60% of the new company, Racal-Millicom Ltd, and Millicom 40%. Due to concerns of the
British government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
about foreign ownership, the terms were revised, and in December 1982, the Racal-Millicom partnership was awarded the second UK mobile phone network licence.Hultens, Staffan and Molleryd, Bengt (28 June 2000), "Entrepreneurs, Innovations and Market Processes in the Evolution of the Swedish Mobile Telecommunications Industry". Retrieved 9 September 2013 Final ownership of Racal-Millicom Ltd was 80% Racal, with Millicom holding 15% plus royalties, and the venture firm Hambros Technology Trust holding 5%. According to the UK Secretary of State for Industry, "the bid submitted by Racal-Millicom Ltd … provided the best prospect for early national coverage by cellular radio."
Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 under the new name of Racal-Vodafone (Holdings) Ltd, with its first office based in the Courtyard in Newbury, Berkshire, and shortly thereafter Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited. The first non-Vodafone employee to make a UK mobile phone call was comedian
Ernie Wise
Ernest Wiseman, (27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known by his stage name Ernie Wise, was an English comedian, best known as one half of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, who became a national institution on British television, especially ...
, from
St Katharine Docks
St Katharine Docks is a former dock and now a mixed-used district in Central London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and within the East End. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, immediately downstream of the Tower of London an ...
, London on 1 January 1985. On 29 December 1986, Racal Electronics issued shares to the minority shareholders of Vodafone worth £110 million, and Vodafone became a fully owned brand of Racal.
On 26 October 1988, Racal Telecom, majority held by Racal Electronics, went public on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
with 20% of its stock floated. The successful flotation led to a situation where Racal's stake in Racal Telecom was valued more than the whole of Racal Electronics. Under stock market pressure to realise full value for shareholders, Racal demerged Racal Telecom in 1991.
Vodafone Group, then Vodafone Airtouch: 1991 to 2000
On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodafone Group, with Gerry Whent as its CEO.
In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two-thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6 million. On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased for £77 million Peoples Phone, a 181-store chain whose customers were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network. In a similar move the company acquired the 80% that it did not already own of Astec Communications, a service provider with 21 stores.
In January 1997, Whent retired and
Chris Gent
Sir Christopher Charles Gent HonFREng (born 10 May 1948) is a British businessman, He is the former chief executive officer of Vodafone, a British multinational mobile phone company. Until 2015, he served as the non-exec chairman of GlaxoSmith ...
took over as CEO. In the same year, Vodafone introduced its ''Speechmark'' logo, composed of a quotation mark in a circle, with the Os in the Vodafone logotype representing opening and closing quotation marks and suggesting conversation.
On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of American service provider AirTouch Communications, Inc. and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. The merged company commenced trading on 30 June 1999. The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of
Mannesmann
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...
, owner of the largest German mobile network. To gain antitrust approval for the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in Mannesmann's German competitor, E-Plus Mobilfunk.
On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its US wireless assets with those of
Bell Atlantic Corp
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an intern ...
to form
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...
. The merger was completed on 4 April 2000, just a few months prior to Bell Atlantic's merger with
GTE
GTE Corporation, formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation (1955–1982), was the largest independent telephone company in the United States during the days of the Bell System. The company operated from 1926, with roots tracing furth ...
to form Verizon Communications, Inc.
In November 1999, Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rejected. Vodafone's interest in Mannesmann had been increased by the latter's purchase of
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
, the UK mobile operator. Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory. The hostile takeover provoked strong protest in Germany, and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000, the Mannesmann board agreed to an increased offer of £112 billion, then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved the merger in April 2000 after Vodafone agreed to divest the 'Orange' brand, which was acquired in May 2000 by France Télécom.
Vodafone Group plc: 2000 to present
On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group plc.
On 17 December 2001, Vodafone introduced the concept of "Partner Networks", by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone international services to the local market, without the need of investment by Vodafone. The concept would be used to extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets where it did not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone services would be marketed under the dual-brand scheme, where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)
Vodafone sponsored the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
team
Manchester United F.C.
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...
in football from 2000 until the 2005-06 season.
In 2007, Vodafone entered into a title sponsorship deal with the
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
Formula One team (previously Vodafone sponsored Scuderia Ferrari in 2002 until 2006), which traded as "Vodafone McLaren Mercedes" until the sponsorship ended at the end of the 2013 season.
On 1 December 2011, it acquired the
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
-based Bluefish Communications Ltd, an ICT consultancy company. The acquired operations formed the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within its subsidiary
Vodafone Global Enterprise
Vodafone Global Enterprise Limited is a multinational company which provides telecommunications and information technology services to large corporations, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc. It is headquartered in London, Eng ...
, which was to focus on implementing strategies in
cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
, and strengthen its
professional services
Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services, such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, and lawyers require the practitioner to hold profe ...
offering.
In April 2012, Vodafone announced an agreement to acquire
Cable & Wireless Worldwide
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (informally Cable & Wireless) was a British multinational telecommunications services company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. It was formed in 2010 by the split of Cable & Wireless plc into two com ...
(CWW) for £1.04 billion. The acquisition gave Vodafone access to CWW's fibre network for businesses, enabling it to offer
unified communications
Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept describing the integration of enterprise communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including ...
to enterprises. On 18 June 2012, Cable & Wireless' shareholders voted in favour of the Vodafone offer.
On 2 September 2013, Vodafone announced it would be selling its 45% stake in
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...
to
Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
for $US130 billion. With the proceeds from the deal, it announced a £19 billion Project Spring initiative to improve network quality in Europe and emerging markets, such as
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
.
In June 2017, the company took measures to prevent its advertising from appearing within outlets focused on creating and sharing hate speech and fake news.
In January 2020, Vodafone confirmed that it has pulled out of
Diem Association
Diem (formerly known as Libra) was a permissioned blockchain-based stablecoin payment system proposed by the American social media company Meta Platforms. The plan also includes a private currency implemented as a cryptocurrency.
The launch wa ...
(known as Libra Association at the time), the governing council for the
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
-created global digital currency initiative.
Operations
Following a period of worldwide expansion which began in 1999, in the 2010s Vodafone entered a period of retrenchment and simplification of its operations. Its operating companies are in Europe, Africa, India and Turkey, while in other continents and countries it has partner agreements with local network operators.
Africa
Egypt
In November 1998, the
Vodafone Egypt
Vodafone Egypt (Arabic: ڤودافون مَصر, ''Vodafone Maṣr'') is the largest mobile network operator in Egypt in terms of active subscribers. It was launched in 1998 under its former name Click GSM ( Egyptian: كليك چى اس ام). I ...
network went live under the name Click GSM, and was rebranded to Vodafone in 2002.
On 8 November 2006, the company announced a deal with
Telecom Egypt
Telecom Egypt ( ar, المصرية للاتصالات), is Egypt's primary telephone company. It started in 1854 with the first telegraph line in Egypt. In 1998, it replaced the former Arab Republic of Egypt National Telecommunication Organizati ...
, resulting in further co-operation in the Egyptian market and increasing its stake in Vodafone Egypt. After the deal, Vodafone Egypt was 55% owned by the group, while the remaining 45% was owned by Telecom Egypt.
On 29 January 2020, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and the Vodafone Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the sale of Vodafone's entire 55 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt to STC. With the sale, Vodafone will be exiting Egypt (as a telecom operator) as the rest of the 45 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt is owned by Telecom Egypt. Telecom Egypt has said that it has no plans to sell its stake.
On 21 December 2020, Vodafone announced that its discussions with STC regarding the sale of Vodafone's 55% shareholding in Vodafone Egypt have been terminated and that Vodafone would stay in the Egyptian market.
South Africa (Vodafone)
On 3 November 2004, the company announced that its South African affiliate
Vodacom
Vodacom Group Limited is a South-Western African mobile communications company, providing voice, messaging, data and converged services to over 55 million customers. From its roots in South Africa, Vodacom has grown its operations to include ...
had agreed to introduce Vodafone's international services, such as
Vodafone live!
Vodafone live! was the brand name for the multimedia portal service of mobile phone operator Vodafone, offering news content, picture messaging, instant messaging, email, and downloadable ringtones and games. The service officially launched on 24 O ...
and partner agreements, to its local market.
In November 2005, Vodafone announced that it was in exclusive talks to buy a 15% stake of VenFin in Vodacom Group, reaching agreement the following day. Vodafone and Telkom then had a 50% stake each in Vodacom. Vodafone now owns 57.5% of Vodacom after purchasing a 15% stake from Telkom.
On 9 October 2008, the company offered to acquire an additional 15% stake in Vodacom Group from Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement were announced on 6 November 2008. The agreement called for Telkom to sell 15 per cent of its 50 per cent stake in Vodacom to the group, and demerge the other 35 per cent to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to make Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa investment vehicle, as well as continuing to maintain the visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction closed in May/June 2009.
On 18 May 2009, Vodacom entered the
JSE Limited
JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...
stock exchange in South Africa after Vodafone increased its stake by 15% to 65% to take a majority holding, despite disputes by local trade unions.
In April 2011, Vodacom rebranded with the Vodafone logo.
Ghana
On 3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom for $900 million. The acquisition was consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led consortium won the second fixed-line licence in Qatar on 15 September 2008.
On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary OneTouch, was rebranded as
Vodafone Ghana
Vodafone Ghana, formerly Ghana Telecom, is the national telecommunications company of Ghana. The company in Ghana operates under Vodacom Group - Africa's leading mobile telecommunications company.
As of January 2020, it had around 9.3 million mob ...
.
Libya
On 24 February 2010, the group signed a partner network agreement with the second-largest operator in Libya, al Madar.
Cameroon
On 23 September 2016, Vodafone extended its activities to Cameroon by signing a partnership with Afrimax, a 4G-LTE telecommunications operator in Africa. Vodafone Cameroon Launched a "Youth Program" in the Universities to support and encourage the Cameroonian students. The partnership ceased to operate in September 2017 following the withdrawal of its license by the government.
Middle East
Bahrain
On 29 December 2003, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC group. The agreement involved co-operation in Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-Vodafone.
Qatar
In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar under the name "Vodafone Qatar". Vodafone Qatar is located at QSTP, the Qatar Science & Technology Park. Commercial operations officially began on 1 March 2009. In February 2018 Vodafone Europe agreed to sell their stake in the Qatar joint venture.
On 25 November 2019, Vodafone in collaboration with Inseego Corp. introduced the 5G MiFi M1100 in Qatar. It is the first commercially available 5G mobile hotspot in the region.
United Arab Emirates
On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner network agreement with Du, the second-largest operator in the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involved co-operation on international clients, handset procurement, mobile broadband etc.
Oman
In January 2021, Vodafone obtained a license to establish and operate public telecommunications services in
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
. In September 2021 Vodafone in Oman signed an agreement with
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...
to deploy, operate and maintain 4G and 5G core and radio access (RAN) greenfield network and an agreement with
Netcracker Technology
Netcracker Technology Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is a provider of business support system (BSS), operations support systems (OSS) and software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) solu ...
to deploy Netcracker Digital BSS. Vodafone will be the third operator in the Sultanate of Oman.
The Americas
;Chile
On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with the Chilean
Entel PCS
Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones S.A. (doing business as Entel-Chile S.A.) is the largest Chilean telecommunications company. The company is known for the high Torre Entel (Entel Tower) that rises above central Santiago and constitutes ...
Chile, in which Entel PCS has access to the equipment and international services of Vodafone, and Vodafone will be one of the trademarks of Entel for the wireless business. This step will give the Vodafone brand access to a market of over 15 million people, currently divided among two companies: Telefonica
Movistar
Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar is ...
, and Entel PCS.
;Brazil
In August 2013, Vodafone has started the MVNO operation in Brazil, as a corporative M2M operator.
;United States
In the United States, Vodafone previously owned 45% of
Verizon Wireless
Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...
in a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
with
Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...
, the country's largest mobile carrier. Vodafone branding was not used, however, as the CDMA network was not compatible with the GSM 900/1800 MHz standard used by Vodafone's other networks and as Vodafone did not have management control over Verizon Wireless. On 2 September 2013 Vodafone announced the sale of its stake to Verizon Communications for around $130 billion. In 2004, Vodafone made an unsuccessful bid for the entirety of
AT&T Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...
; however, Cingular Wireless, at the time a joint venture of SBC Communications and
BellSouth
BellSouth, LLC (stylized as ''BELLSOUTH'' and formerly known as BellSouth Corporation) was an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after ...
(both now part of AT&T Inc.), ultimately outbid Vodafone and took control of AT&T Wireless (the combined wireless carrier is now AT&T Mobility).
In 2013, Vodafone was considered for acquisition by U.S.-based
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
. Ultimately, the deal did not move forward.
Asia
Japan
In 1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile Internet service in response to DoCoMo's
i-Mode
NTT DoCoMo's i-mode is a mobile internet (distinct from wireless internet) service popular in Japan. Unlike Wireless Application Protocols, i-mode encompasses a wider variety of internet standards, including web access, e-mail, and the pa ...
service. It became Japan's third-largest mobile operator and was the first one to introduce camera phones in Japan. Vodafone then went on to acquire J-phone. In December 2002 J-Phone's 3G network went live. On 1 October 2003, J-Phone became 'Vodafone Japan', and J-Phone's mobile internet service J-Sky became
Vodafone Live!
Vodafone live! was the brand name for the multimedia portal service of mobile phone operator Vodafone, offering news content, picture messaging, instant messaging, email, and downloadable ringtones and games. The service officially launched on 24 O ...
. In March 2006, Vodafone sold Vodafone Japan to
SoftBank
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...
. In October 2006, SoftBank changed Vodafone Japan's name to '
SoftBank Mobile
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...
'. On 17 March 2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone Japan to
SoftBank
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...
for £8.9 billion, of which £6.8 billion would be received in cash upon completion of the deal. Vodafone Japan later changed its name to
SoftBank Mobile
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vi ...
. In November 2010, Vodafone divested its remaining Softbank shares.
India
On 28 October 2005, the company announced the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in India's
Bharti Enterprises
Bharti Enterprises is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Delhi. It was founded in 1976 by Sunil Mittal. Bharti Enterprises owns businesses spanning across manufacturing, telecommunications, agribusiness, real estate, ho ...
, which operated the largest mobile phone network in India under the brand name ''Airtel''. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company agreed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in
Hutch Essar
Vodafone India (formerly Vodafone Essar Ltd, Huchison Essar Ltd) was the Indian subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Group plc and was a provider of telecommunications services in India with its operational head office in Mumbai. As of March 2018, V ...
for US$11.1 billion. At the same time, it agreed to sell back 5.6% of its ''Airtel'' stake to the Mittals; Vodafone would retain a 4.4% stake in ''Airtel''. On 21 September 2007, Hutch was rebranded to
Vodafone India
Vodafone India (formerly Vodafone Essar Ltd, Huchison Essar Ltd) was the Indian subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Group plc and was a provider of telecommunications services in India with its operational head office in Mumbai. As of March 2018, ...
. In May 2011, Vodafone Group Plc bought the remaining shares of Vodafone Essar from Essar Group Ltd for $5 billion. In October 2013, it was reported by Reuters that Vodafone planned to invest as much as $2 billion (£1.2 billion) to buy out minority shareholders in Vodafone India.
By late January 2017, Vodafone Group's unit in India and
Idea Cellular
Idea Cellular
(commonly referred to as Idea, and stylised as ''!dea'') was an Indian mobile network operator based at Mumbai, Maharashtra. Idea was a pan-India integrated GSM operator and had 220.00 million subscribers as of June 2018. Id ...
Ltd were in preliminary talks to merge. And on 20 March 2017, Vodafone announced that it was merging its Indian business with Idea, India's third-largest network, to create the country's third largest operator with almost 270 million customers, accounting for 16% of the Indian cellphone service market. Vodafone would own 45.1 percent of the new operator and Idea's parent company, the
Aditya Birla Group
Aditya Birla Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It operates in 100 countries with more than 1,40,000 employees directly and indirectly. The group was founded by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla in 1857. The group ha ...
, 26 percent. The deal valued Vodafone India at the equivalent of $12.6 billion and Idea Cellular at the equivalent of $11.02 billion. The deal would enable Vodafone to move its Indian subsidiary off its balance sheet, cutting the British group's net debt by the equivalent of almost $8.25 billion. The Telecom ministry (DoT) cleared the Vodofone–Idea merger on 9 July 2018. On 31 August 2018,
Vodafone Idea
Vodafone Idea (or Vi, and/but stylised as ''V!'') is an Indian telecom operator with its headquarters based in Mumbai and Gandhinagar. It is a pan-India integrated GSM operator offering 2G, 3G, 4G, 4G+, VoLTE, and VoWiFi service. As of 31 ...
became a legal entity and the largest telecom service provider in India. On 7 September 2020, Vodafone Idea unveiled its new brand identity, 'Vi' which involves the integration of the company's erstwhile separate brands 'Vodafone' and 'Idea' into one unified brand.
Other Asia
On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community as M1 was signed as partner network. Then in April 2005,
SmarTone
SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited, trading as SmarTone (), is a telecommunications company headquartered in Hong Kong. The company is a subsidiary of conglomerate Sun Hung Kai Properties.
The company provides voice, multimedia, plai ...
changed the name of its brand to ' SmarTone-Vodafone', after both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement. In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were added to the Vodafone footprint as Vodafone Group signed a partner network agreement with
Telekom Malaysia
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is a Malaysian telecommunications company founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become the country's larg ...
.
On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with
Digicel
Digicel is a Jamaican and Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment provider operating in 33 markets worldwide.
Digicel has operated in several countries, including Guyana, Fiji, Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Suriname, a ...
Caribbean (see below), Samoa was added as a Partner Market. On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year partnership agreement with Digicel Group. The agreement, which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa, will result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two groups will also become preferred roaming partners of each other.
On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile
money transfer service
In the legal code of the United States, a money transmitter or money transfer service is a business entity that provides money transfer services or payment instruments. Money transmitters in the US are part of a larger group of entities called m ...
on Roshan's (Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan was added to the Vodafone footprint.
dtac
Total Access Communication Public Company Limited, commonly known as DTAC is a GSM mobile phone company in Thailand. It is the nation's third largest GSM phone company, after AIS and True. DTAC is owned by Norwegian company Telenor both direc ...
in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 March 2009.
Nar Mobile
Nar is a brand for commercial activities of Azerfon, a mobile telecommunications company, located in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Company background
Azerfon LLC launched its commercial activities on 21 March 2007 under brand name Nar Mobile.
Today the n ...
in Azerbaijan was signed as a partner network on 22 July 2009, while
Chunghwa Telecom
Chunghwa Telecom Company, Ltd. () (, ) is the largest integrated telecom service provider in Taiwan, and the incumbent local exchange carrier of PSTN, Mobile, and broadband services in the country.
History
Chunghwa Telecom was founded as ...
of Taiwan was signed on 12 November 2009.
In September 2011, it was announced that Vodafone and Smartone would not renew their partnership in the Hong Kong market. Vodafone instead entered into an agreement with
Hutchison Telecom
Hutchison Asia Telecom Group or HAT, is a division of Hong Kong-based multinational conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings. The division provides telecommunications services to several Asian countries. The division was formerly incorporated as H ...
, who operate the ''3'' brand. In the same year, M1 also ended their partnership in Singapore.
In February 2013, Vodafone together with
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...
participated in bidding for one of the two newly opened Myanmar Mobile licences.
At the beginning of September 2014, the Vietnamese mobile operator
Vinaphone
Vinaphone is a Vietnamese major mobile network operator headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam. Founded June 26, 1996, as a GSM launcher, Vinaphone is the second network (after MobiFone) and currently the second largest provider in Vietnam.
Partnersh ...
signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Vodafone.
Europe
Vodafone Hungary was formed as a subsidiary company in July 1999. The acquisition of
Mannesmann AG
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pi ...
, completed on 12 April 2000, created subsidiaries in Germany and Italy, and increased the Group's indirect holding in
SFR
SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company.
As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...
. The Vodafone brand in Italy was introduced as Omnitel-Vodafone in 2001, which became the primary brand in 2002; finally the current name Vodafone Italia was introduced in 2003, dropping "Omnitel" altogether.
In 2001, the company acquired
Eircell
Eircell was an Irish mobile cellular network provider which was established in 1984, with operations commencing in 1986. Its access code was 088 for the original analogue TACS system and 087 for the later GSM system. Following the abolition of th ...
, the largest wireless communications company in Ireland, from
Eir
In Norse mythology, Eir (Old Norse: , "protection, help, mercy"Orchard (1997:36).) is a goddess or valkyrie associated with medical skill. Eir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources; th ...
com. Eircell was subsequently rebranded as
Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Vodafone Group, is a mobile phone network and broadband provider in the Republic of Ireland. It was created when the Vodafone Group bought Eircell, the mobile arm of Telecom Éireann. ...
. In February 2002,
Radiolinja
Radiolinja was a Finnish GSM operator founded on September 19, 1988. On March 27, 1991, the world's first GSM phone call was made on Radiolinja's network. The network was opened for commercial use on July 1, 1991.
Radiolinja's slogan was ''So tha ...
of Finland joined Vodafone as a partner network. Later in December 2002, the Vodafone brand was introduced in the Estonian market following the signing of a Partner Network Agreement with the Estonian subsidiary of Radiolinja. Radiolinja's Finnish service was rebranded as Elisa in April 2004 following its parent company Elisa Corporation's decision to unify all consumer-facing brands under a single name; this was followed by Radiolinja's Estonian service in February 2005 in anticipation of the later juridical merger with .
In January 2003, the company signed a group-wide partner agreement with
mobilkom Austria
A1 Telekom Austria (A1, ''A eins'') is the leading fixed and mobile network operator in Austria, with 5.4 million mobile and 2.3 million fixed-line customers. A1 Telekom Austria traces its origins to Austria's first GSM mobile phone network whi ...
and as a result Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia were added to the community. In April 2003, Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market. On 21 July 2003, Lithuania was added to the community, with the signing of a Partner Network Agreement with Bitė.
In February 2004, Vodafone signed Partner Network Agreements with Luxembourg's
LuxGSM LuxGSM S.A., now known as POST, is a Luxembourgish mobile phone network operator. It has 250,000 subscribers, making it the largest network in Luxembourg. From 2004 until 2009, LuxGSM was the national partner of Vodafone, and its customers had acce ...
, and with
Cyta
CYTA Ltd. (; short for "Cyprus Telecommunication Authority"; gr, Αρχή Τηλεπικοινωνιών Κύπρου (ΑΤΗΚ), ''Archí Tilelikoinonión Kýprou (ATIK)'' ) is a telecommunication provider in Cyprus.
The Cyprus Telecommunicat ...
of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename its mobile phone operations to Cytamobile-Vodafone. In April 2004, the company acquired a British airtime provider, Singlepoint, for £405m from John Caudwell's
Caudwell Group
John David Caudwell (born 7 October 1952) is a British billionaire businessman who founded the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He also invests in fashion, real estate and other industries, and chairs Caudwell Children, a children's ...
, adding approximately 1.5 million customers and sites in Stoke-on-Trent to existing sites in Newbury (HQ), Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury. In November 2004, Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.
In June 2005, the Company bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar which was rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone.
On 28 October 2005, Connex in Romania was rebranded as Connex-Vodafone, and on 31 October 2005, the company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone Sweden to
Telenor
Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...
for approximately €1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a partner network.
In December 2005, Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest mobile phone company,
Telsim
Vodafone Telekomünikasyon Anonim Şirketi or Vodafone Turkey ( tr, Vodafone Türkiye) is a Turkish mobile telecommunications company. It was formed when Telsim, which was founded by the Uzan Group, was incorporated into Vodafone group on 28 Dec ...
, for US$4.5 billion. Early in January 2007, Telsim in Turkey adopted Vodafone dual branding as
Telsim Vodafone
Vodafone Telekomünikasyon Anonim Şirketi or Vodafone Turkey ( tr, Vodafone Türkiye) is a Turkish mobile telecommunications company. It was formed when Telsim, which was founded by the Uzan Group, was incorporated into Vodafone group on 28 Dece ...
, and on 1 April 2007, became
Vodafone Turkey
Vodafone Telekomünikasyon Anonim Şirketi or Vodafone Turkey ( tr, Vodafone Türkiye) is a Turkish mobile telecommunications company. It was formed when Telsim, which was founded by the Uzan Group, was incorporated into Vodafone group on 28 Dec ...
. In addition, Vodafone Turkey also provides service in Northern Cyprus.
In 2006, the Company rebranded its Stoke-on-Trent site as Stoke Premier Centre, a "centre of expertise" for the company dealing with customer care for its higher-value customers, technical support, sales and credit control. On 22 February 2006, the company announced that it was extending its footprint to Bulgaria with the signing of Partner Network Agreement with
Mobiltel
A1 Bulgaria (previously known as Mtel or Mobiltel) is a telecommunications company in Bulgaria ownedy by A1 Telekom Austria Group.
History
A1 Bulgaria was founded in March 1994 but was not launched commercially until September 1995 (as ''Citron'' ...
, which is part of the
mobilkom Austria
A1 Telekom Austria (A1, ''A eins'') is the leading fixed and mobile network operator in Austria, with 5.4 million mobile and 2.3 million fixed-line customers. A1 Telekom Austria traces its origins to Austria's first GSM mobile phone network whi ...
group.
In April 2006, the company announced that it had signed an extension to its Partner Network Agreement with Bitė Group, enabling its Latvian subsidiary to become the latest member of Vodafone's global partner community. On 30 May 2006, Vodafone announced the then-biggest loss in British corporate history (£14.9 billion), and plans to cut 400 jobs; it reported one-off costs of £23.5 billion due to the revaluation of its
Mannesmann
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...
subsidiary. On 24 July 2006, the respected head of Vodafone Europe, Bill Morrow, quit unexpectedly, and on 25 August 2006, the company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's
Proximus
Proximus (stylised as pro⌘imus; formerly known as Belgacom Mobile) is the largest of Belgium's three mobile telecommunications companies and is a part of Proximus Group (previously Belgacom Group). It competes with Orange Belgium and Base. ...
for €2 billion. After the deal, Proximus remained part of the community as a Partner Network.
On 5 October 2006, Vodafone announced the first single-brand partnership with Og Vodafone which would operate under the name
Vodafone Iceland
Vodafone Iceland is an Icelandic telecommunications company owned by Sýn. Although the company carries the Vodafone brand and trademark, Vodafone Group owns no interest in the company, but rather franchises the brand and associated advertising ...
, and on 19 December 2006, the company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Switzerland's Swisscom for CHF4.25 billion (£1.8 billion). After the deal, Swisscom would still be part of the community as a Partner Network. In December 2006, the Company completed the acquisition of Aspective, an enterprise applications systems integrator in the UK, signalling Vodafone's intent to grow a significant presence and revenues in the information and communication technologies (ICT) marketplace.
On 1 May 2007, Vodafone added Jersey and Guernsey to the community, as Airtel was signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies. In June 2007, Vodafone UK began optimising web pages accessed through
Vodafone Live!
Vodafone live! was the brand name for the multimedia portal service of mobile phone operator Vodafone, offering news content, picture messaging, instant messaging, email, and downloadable ringtones and games. The service officially launched on 24 O ...
, which was criticised by ''
The Register
''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
'' for interfering with
mobile commerce
The term mobile commerce was originally coined in 1997 by Kevin Duffey at the launch of the Global Mobile Commerce Forum, to mean "the delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumer’s hand, anywhere, via wireless tech ...
websites. On 1 August 2007,
Vodafone Portugal
Vodafone Portugal – Comunicações Pessoais, S.A., a full subsidiary of the Vodafone Group, is the second mobile operator in Portugal, both chronologically and in market share (34% in 2006). Its competitors are NOS and Meo.
History
As Tel ...
launched Vodafone Messenger, a service with
Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant messaging client, instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger ser ...
and
Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo! Messenger (sometimes abbreviated Y!M) was an advertisement-supported instant messaging client (computing), client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger was provided free of charge and could be downloaded and used wit ...
. At the end of 2007, Vodafone Germany was ranked 6th in Europe by subscriber numbers, whilst its Italian operation was listed as 10th. Vodafone UK was ranked 13th, whilst Spain was listed in 16th place.
On 17 April 2008, Vodafone extended its footprint to Serbia as
Vip mobile
A1 Srbija d.o.o. (formerly ''Vip mobile'') is a Serbian mobile network operator owned by A1 Telekom Austria Group. As of 2020, it is the third largest mobile telephony operator with market share of 25.67%.
History
On 1 December 2006, the mobilk ...
was added to the community as a Partner Network, and on 20 May 2008, the Company added
VIP Operator
Vip operator was a mobile network operator in North Macedonia and a member of the A1 Telekom Austria Group.
History
On March 26, 2007, Vip operator acquired the third license for mobile communications operation from the Macedonian Agency for ...
as a Partner Network, thereby extending the global footprint to the North Macedonia.
On 30 October 2008, the company announced a strategic, non-equity partnership with
Mobile TeleSystems
MTS (russian: Мобильные ТелеСистемы, МТС, "Mobile TeleSystems"), headquartered in Moscow, is the largest mobile network operator in Russia, operating on GSM, UMTS and LTE standards. Apart from cellular network, the compan ...
(MTS) group of Russia. The agreement adds Russia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan to the group's footprint.
On 20 March 2009, it was announced that the group's Luxembourg partner has been changed: the agreement with LuxGSM was not renewed in favour of
Tango
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
, the Luxembourg unit of another partner network,
Belgacom
The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication in Belgium and the international markets. In Belgium, its main products and services are offered under the Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings brands. The Group is also ac ...
of Belgium.
On 4 April 2011, Vodafone sold its 44% stake in
SFR
SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company.
As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...
, the second largest operator in France, to
Vivendi
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
for €7.95 billion.
In March 2013, the Spanish operations of Vodafone signed an agreement with
Orange S.A.
Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...
to co-invest €1 billion in the expansion of Spain's
fibre-optic cable
A fiber-optic cable, also known as an optical-fiber cable, is an assembly similar to an electrical cable, but containing one or more optical fibers that are used to carry light. The optical fiber elements are typically individually coated with ...
broadband network, which would enable Vodafone to reach an additional 6 million customers in Spain by 2017. On 24 June 2013, Vodafone announced it would be buying German cable company Kabel Deutschland. The takeover was valued at €7.7 billion, and was recommended over the bid of rival Liberty Global. In February 2014, Vodafone made an offer to acquire
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
's largest cable operator, ONO, for total consideration, including associated net debt acquired, of €7.2 billion.
In October 2015,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
's
Mobile TeleSystems
MTS (russian: Мобильные ТелеСистемы, МТС, "Mobile TeleSystems"), headquartered in Moscow, is the largest mobile network operator in Russia, operating on GSM, UMTS and LTE standards. Apart from cellular network, the compan ...
and Vodafone expanded their 2008 strategic partnership; this resulted in the rebranding of MTS Ukraine to
Vodafone Ukraine
Vodafone Ukraine (formerly ''MTS Ukraine'', prior to that: ''Ukrainian Mobile Communications'', ''UMC'') is the second-largest mobile operator in Ukraine with 23.1 million users and thus a 38 percent market share (in September 2014). In November 20 ...
.
On 31 December 2016, Vodafone Group's Dutch operations merged with Liberty Global's
Ziggo
Ziggo Holding B.V. () is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers.
History
The company is the result of the merger between ...
brand, creating VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V.
In April 2017, Vodafone was rated the worst mobile provider in the UK for the seventh year in succession in a "Which?" survey.
In 2019, Vodafone Group created a legally separate organisation comprising its European mobile towers. At the same time it was reported that the mobile towers business could be valued at about £10 billion. The mobile towers business was named Vantage Towers on 24 July 2020. Vantage Towers is headquartered in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
, Germany with towers infrastructure in Germany, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Italy and Ireland comprising a total of 68,000 towers.
Oceania
Australia
In October 1993,
Vodafone Australia
Vodafone Australia is an Australian telecommunications brand providing mobile and fixed broadband services. Vodafone’s mobile network covers more than 23 million Australians, and Vodafone has commenced the rollout of its 5G mobile network. Voda ...
's network went live. In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy high-speed
MPLS
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a routing technique in telecommunications networks that directs data from one node to the next based on labels rather than network addresses. Whereas network addresses identify endpoints the labels identif ...
backbone network built by Lucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware. In October 2005, it began launching 3G technology in Australia. On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mobile phone retailer
Crazy John's
Crazy John's was a mobile phone retail chain in Australia started by Turkish Australian businessman John Ilhan. Crazy John's was the largest independent phone retailer in Australia, employing more than 400 people with more than 600 retail stores ...
adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.
On 9 February 2009, Vodafone Australia announced a merger with 3/Hutchison via a joint venture company VHA Pty Ltd, which would offer products under the Vodafone brand. On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA) announced the end of its outsourcing of retail operations. VHA committed to buying back and managing its entire retail operation, including 208 Vodafone-branded retail outlets Australia-wide. This project was slated to be completed by 1 September 2009.
On 31 August 2009, VHA enabled an extended 900 MHz 3G UMTS network which functions outside their 2,100 MHz 3G network, boosting Vodafone's 3G population coverage from around 8% to around 94% on dual-band 900/2,100 MHz 3G UMTS devices.
On 13 July 2020, VHA merged with TPG to create
TPG Telecom Limited
TPG Telecom Limited, formerly Vodafone Hutchison Australia and renamed following the merger with TPG (ISP), TPG, is an Australian telecommunications company. It is the second largest telecommunications company listed on the Australian Securiti ...
.
Fiji
In July 1994, Vodafone Fiji's network went live. In July 2014, Vodafone sold its 49% shareholding of Vodafone Fiji to The Fiji National Provident fund. Under the terms of the deal, Vodafone Fiji retained its branding under a Partner Market Agreement.
New Zealand
In July 1993,
BellSouth
BellSouth, LLC (stylized as ''BELLSOUTH'' and formerly known as BellSouth Corporation) was an American telecommunications holding company based in Atlanta, Georgia. BellSouth was one of the seven original Regional Bell Operating Companies after ...
New Zealand's network went live. In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later became
Vodafone New Zealand
Vodafone New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company.
It was a subsidiary of the London-listed company Vodafone Plc until 31 July 2019, when its sale to a consortium comprising Infratil Limited and Brookfield Asset Manageme ...
. In August 2005, Vodafone launched 3G technology in New Zealand. On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd largest
internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
,
iHug
__NOTOC__
ihug was New Zealand's third largest ISP (behind Xtra and TelstraClear), before it was bought, then absorbed by Vodafone New Zealand (the country's largest mobile phone operator). According to 2005 estimates, it had over 100,000 inter ...
. In October 2013, Vodafone began its rollout of 4G to provincial New Zealand, with the launch of the system in holiday hotspots around Coromandel. In 2019, Vodafone announced the sale of its New Zealand division to a consortium of investors; while Vodafone New Zealand is now independently owned, it retains a licensing agreement to continue use of the Vodafone name and logo in exchange for fee payments.
Vodafone Global Enterprise
Vodafone Global Enterprise is the business services division, and a wholly owned
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of Vodafone Group. It was established in April 2007 to provide
telecommunications
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
and
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...
services to large corporations.
The division offers integrated communications in
cloud computing
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage ( cloud storage) and computing power, without direct active management by the user. Large clouds often have functions distributed over mul ...
,
unified communications
Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept describing the integration of enterprise communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including ...
and collaboration. Its services include domestic and international voice and data, machine-to-machine services, mobile email, mobile broadband, managed services, mobile payment and mobile recording.
In December 2011, it acquired the
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
-based Bluefish Communications Ltd, an ICT consultancy company. The acquired operations formed the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within VGE, working on cloud computing and
professional services
Professional services are occupations in the service sector requiring special training in the arts or sciences. Some professional services, such as architects, accountants, engineers, doctors, and lawyers require the practitioner to hold profe ...
.
Vodafone Global Enterprise operates in over 65 countries, with "Northern Europe" (based in London, United Kingdom), "Central Europe", "Southern Europe and Africa", "Asia Pacific & Sub-Saharan Africa" (based in Singapore) and "Americas" geographical divisions. VGE's major customers include
Deutsche Post
The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. ...
,
The Linde Group
Linde plc is a global multinational chemical company founded in Germany and, since 2018, domiciled in Ireland and headquartered in the United Kingdom. Linde is the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. It serves ...
,
Unilever
Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
, and
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
.
Products and services
In October 2009, it launched Vodafone 360, a new internet service for the mobile, PC and Mac. This was discontinued in December 2011 after disappointing hardware sales. This was after the Director of Internet Services resigned in September 2010 tweeting "5 days before I leave Vodafone. Freedom beckons." In February 2010, Vodafone launched the world's cheapest mobile phone known as Vodafone 150, intended to sell for below $15 (£10) in the developing world. It was initially launched in India, Turkey and eight African countries including Lesotho, Kenya and Ghana.
Mobile money transfer services
In March 2007,
Safaricom
Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. T ...
, which is part owned by Vodafone and the leading mobile communication provider in Kenya, launched mobile payment software developed by Vodafone.
By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in Kenya had gained 1.6 million customers. By 2011 there were fourteen million M-Pesa accounts by which held 40 percent of the country's savings. Following M-PESA's success in Kenya, Vodafone announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan. The service here was launched on the Roshan network under the brand M-Paisa with a different focus to the Kenyan service. M-Paisa was targeted as a vehicle for microfinance institutions' (MFI) loan disbursements and repayments, alongside business-to-business applications such as salary disbursement. The Afghanistan launch was followed in April 2008 by the announcement of further a further launch of M-PESA in Tanzania, South Africa and India.
In February 2012, Vodafone announced a worldwide partnership with Visa.
Health services
In November 2009, Vodafone announced the creation of a new business unit focused on the emerging market (the application of mobile communications and network technologies to healthcare). One of its early success stories is with the
Novartis
Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and
Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
-led "SMS for Life" project in Tanzania, for which Vodafone developed and deployed a text-message based system that enables all of the country's 4,600 public health facilities to report their levels of anti-malarial medications so that stock level data can be viewed centrally in real-time, enabling timely re-supply of stock. During the SMS for Life pilot, which covered 129 health facilities over six months, stock-outs dropped from 26% to 0.8%, saving thousands of lives.
Vodafone Foundation
The Vodafone Foundation is a recognised charity which supports and initiates projects which use mobile technology to benefit the vulnerable, using the slogan "Connecting for Good". They often work in collaboration with other charitable groups. Below are some examples of their initiatives:
* DreamLab, a
volunteer computing
Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which people donate their computers' unused resources to a research-oriented project, and sometimes in exchange for credit points. The fundamental idea behind it is that a modern desktop co ...
mobile app developed in cooperation with
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
and used to research on
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
,
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, and other diseases
* TECSOS mobile phones have been adapted to allow victims of domestic violence to activate immediate contact with the emergency services if they are in danger
* Paediatric Epilepsy Remote Monitoring System a monitoring system that allows physicians to remotely make patient observations
* Safe Taxi System an initiative in Portugal that consists of technology that taxi drivers can use to alert police if they are in danger of being assaulted
* Learning with Vodafone Solution technology that allows teachers in India to use graphical and multi-media content to enhance their teaching
* The World of Difference programme successful applicants choose charities for which they work either full-time for two months or part-time for four months (minimum 15 hours a week). The charities are provided with £2,500, with each winner receiving the balance as a salary after NI and tax have been paid.
Advertising
Since 2017, Vodafone's global advertising has used the slogan "The future is exciting. Ready?". The previous slogan, since 2009, was "Power to You".
Corporate affairs
Senior management
Sir Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal Electronics plc, was responsible for the bid for a UK Cellular Network licence. The Mobile Telecoms division was de-merged, and was floated on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...
in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief Executive of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years the company grew to become the UK's market leader, changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.
Sir Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement. Gent was responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small UK operator into the global operator, through the merger with the American AirTouch and the takeover of Germany's Mannesmann.
Arun Sarin
Arun Sarin (born 21 October 1954) is an Indian-American telecommunications executive.
Sarin was the former CEO of the telecom giant Vodafone, serving from 2003 until 2008. He drove the integration of Vodafone, Airtouch and Mannesman. He was al ...
was the driving force behind the company's move into emerging markets such as Asia and Africa, through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator Telsim, and a majority stake in Hutchison Essar in India.
The fourth CEO,
Vittorio Colao
Vittorio Amedeo Colao (born 3 October 1961) is an Italian manager who has been serving as Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition in the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi from 2021 to 2022. From 2008 until 2018, he ...
, stepped up from Deputy Chief Executive in July 2008.
Financial results
Vodafone reports its results in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards
International Financial Reporting Standards, commonly called IFRS, are accounting standards issued by the IFRS Foundation and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). They constitute a standardised way of describing the company's f ...
(IFRS). Financial performance has been as follows:
Criticisms
Tax avoidance
In September 2010, an investigation by '' Private Eye'' magazine revealed certain details of Vodafone's tax avoidance activities. It was reported that Vodafone routed the acquisition of
Mannesmann
Mannesmann was a German industrial conglomerate. It was originally established as a manufacturer of steel pipes in 1890 under the name "Deutsch-Österreichische Mannesmannröhren-Werke AG". (Loosely translated: "German-Austrian Mannesmann pip ...
through a Luxembourg subsidiary, set up to avoid paying tax on the deal, and continued to place its profits in Luxembourg. Following a long legal struggle with
(during which a senior HMRC official, John Connors, switched sides to become head of tax at Vodafone), it was eventually agreed that Vodafone would pay £1.25 billion related to the acquisition. Based on Vodafone's accounts, experts have estimated the potential tax bill written off as a result of the negotiations was over £6 billion.
The news of this legal
tax avoidance
Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdi ...
sparked angry protests, beginning in October 2010, outside Vodafone shops across the UK, organised under the banner of
UK Uncut
UK Uncut was a network of United Kingdom-based protest groups established in October 2010 to protest against cuts to public services and tax avoidance in the UK. Various sources have described the group as left-wing in its political orientati ...
. The protests caused the closure of various stores across the UK.
In 2011, ''Private Eye'' magazine and The
Bureau of Investigative Journalism
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (typically abbreviated to TBIJ or "the Bureau") is a nonprofit news organisation based in London. It was founded in 2010 to pursue "public interest" investigations. Hutchison Whampoa's Indian assets in 2007, a demand that it contests. In January 2012, the highest Indian court ruled that Vodafone is not liable for taxes and penalties of up to £2.8 billion. However, in February 2016 India's tax department sent Vodafone a renewed tax notice of £1.4bn. Following the siding of the Indian court with Vodafone in 2012, the government changed the law to allow firms to be retrospectively taxed. In September 2020, an international arbitration tribunal sided with Vodafone and ruled that India's efforts to claim past taxes was in violation of fair treatment under the bilateral investment protection pact between India and the Netherlands. India was asked by the tribunal to stop its efforts to claim the tax dues.
Communications blackout during the Arab Spring
Vodafone was implicated in the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in Egypt's 2011 demonstrations. On 27 January, Vodafone, responsible for much of Egypt's telecommunication infrastructure, shut off all voice and data services for Egyptian citizens and businesses at the request of the Egyptian Government under
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in ...
. On 28 January 2011, Vodafone complied with Egyptian government instructions to suspend Internet service "in selected areas" during a period of anti-Mubarak protests. The company issued a statement that "Under Egyptian legislation, the authorities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with it." Vodafone also received public and media criticism for allowing the authorities to send mass pro-government messages via SMS over their network during the protests. One such message requested that "honest and loyal men" should "confront the traitors and criminals". Vodafone later issued a statement asserting that they had no choice but to allow the messages to be broadcast, and that they had complained to the Egyptian authorities about the practice. ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'' of the UK reported, "The Egyptian government's action is unprecedented in the history of the internet." US-based Internet intelligence firm Renesys stated, "in an action unprecedented in Internet history, the Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet." Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said the company was obliged by law to comply with the instructions of the Egyptian government. At the company's annual general meeting, on 26 June, the campaign groups Access and FairPensions asked Vodafone to endorse a plan to prevent the company facing similar demands in the future.
Poor customer service
In Australia, particularly towards the end of 2010, Vodafone was heavily criticised due to allegations of poor customer service and severe technical inadequacies, which earned them their nickname "Vodafail" a website of the same name still exists. In response, they have developed a "new" network, and now provide a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.
In 2019, Vodafone was rated as the UK's worst mobile network provider for the eighth year in a row, in the eighth annual survey by consumer lobby group ''
Which?
''Which?'' is a United Kingdom brand name that promotes informed consumer choice in the purchase of goods and services by testing products, highlighting inferior products or services, raising awareness of consumer rights and offering independe ...
''.
Unlimited roaming costs on stolen phones
Vodafone UK, in common with other operators, has been criticised for holding customers on regular monthly billed contracts liable for almost unlimited roaming costs when their phones are stolen abroad, despite being seemingly able to limit costs of pay-as-you-go contracts.
Breaches of consumer protection rules
In October 2016, Vodafone was fined a record £4.6m by
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
for "serious" breaches of consumer protection rules.
In October 2017,
Citizens Advice
Citizens AdviceCitizens Advice is the operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux which is the umbrella charity for a wider network of local advice centres. The abbreviation CitA is sometimes used to refer to this nation ...
undertook a mystery shopping exercise which found that Vodafone, along with EE and
Three
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
, were not reducing customers' bills after fixed deals finished which meant that they were paying an extra £22 a month on average.
Surveillance infrastructure
In June 2014, Vodafone revealed information about their and other telecommunication operators' 'direct access systems', content data and
metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
interception programmes globally.
Scam investigation
In March 2019, the Indian investigation agency CBI filed a plea in the Supreme Court against Vodafone and
Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...
alleging non cooperation in the Saradha chitfund scam. The court listed the matter for a hearing on 8 April 2019.