Vodafone UK is a British
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 ...
services provider, and a part of
Vodafone Group Plc, the world's second-largest
mobile phone company
A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a wireless service provider, wireless carrier, cellular company, or mobile network carrier, is a provider of wireless communications services that owns or controls all the elements necessary to sel ...
. Vodafone is the
third-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with 16.9 million subscribers as of November 2021, after
EE and
O2, followed by
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 ...
.
Vodafone has been the longest running network in the country since its first cellular network call was made in January 1985. The company's current slogan since 2020 is “Together we can”, replacing the previous slogan "The future is exciting. Ready?". The current branding and logo was created in 2017.
History
Mobile network
In 1981,
Racal Electronics Group won its bid for the private sector UK Cellular licence, and created Racal Telecomms Division. The same year, Racal 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 ...
named 'Racal Vodafone'. The Vodafone name was first unveiled on 22 March 1984.
Vodafone made the first ever cellular telephone call in the United Kingdom on 1 January 1985, 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 ...
to
Newbury, and launched the UK's first cellular network later that year. 'Vodapage' was launched two years later, providing 80% of the United Kingdom's population with a
paging service, and a service called 'Vodata' was also launched for voice and data.
Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics in 1991, becoming
Vodafone Group
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vodafon ...
, and introduced the country's first
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 ...
mobile phone network the same year. The company launched digital data, fax and a
text messaging service with Vodata in 1994.
Vodafone also began working with
Globalstar
Globalstar, Inc. is an American satellite communications company that operates a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation for satellite phone and low-speed data communications. The Globalstar second-generation constellation consists of 24 lo ...
to develop and launch a satellite to provide a
Satellite phone service.
On 5 January 1999, Vodafone UK connected its 5 millionth customer. By the end of 1999 it had 8 million customers, rising to 12 million in 2001,
The first
3G voice call in the UK was made in April 2001 on the Vodafone UK network, with an initial network of 30 base stations in the
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...
set for the commercial launch in 2002.
That same month Vodafone launched
GPRS services.
Around the same time, Vodafone's analogue
TACS
Total Access Communication System (TACS) and ETACS are variants of Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) which were announced as the choice for the first two UK national cellular systems in February 1983, less than a year after the UK government an ...
network was closed after 16 years of service. In 2003, Vodafone introduced the 'Speaking Phone', a phone for
blind & visually impaired users. Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G was launched in 2005, a data card that uses the network's 3G capabilities to connect laptop users to the internet.
Vodafone UK won Mobile Retailer's 'National Retailer of the Year' in 2005 and was awarded 'Best Network' in the 2010 Mobile News and Mobile Awards.
In May 2011, Vodafone and
Justgiving
JustGiving is a global online social platform for giving. The firm's headquarters are located in Bankside, London.
History
In 2000, Zarine Kharas and Anne-Marie Huby founded JustGiving, (initially clickforaction.com) a company to provide o ...
launched 'JustTextGiving', which allows mobile phone user to donate between £1 and £10 to a
registered charity
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definition of a ch ...
using a
SMS message
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
, which is paid for by the donor through
reverse SMS billing Reverse SMS billing or premium SMS service means that the user of the recipient phone rather than the message sender is charged for the cost of the SMS message received. It is also called MT (Mobile Terminated) Billing. Reverse-billed SMS messages ...
. Vodafone invested £5 million to ensure that charities do not incur any set-up costs, or commissions deducted from donations, ensuring that they receive 100% of donations and
Gift Aid
Gift Aid is a UK tax incentive that enables tax-effective giving by individuals to charities in the United Kingdom. Gift Aid was introduced in the Finance Act 1990 for donations given after 1 October 1990, but was originally limited to cash gi ...
.
Vodafone and
O2 signed a deal in June 2012 which will see the two companies 'pool' their network technology, creating a single national grid of 18,500
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
sites. Both networks will continue to carry their own independent mobile spectrum.
On 20 February 2013, Ofcom announced that Vodafone had been awarded spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands for
4G LTE coverage, bidding around £790 million for the spectrum. The service became available to customers in London on 29 August, and will expand to a further twelve cities by the end of 2013.
On 29 March 2018, following the release of
iOS 11.3, Vodafone launched
VoLTE (4G Calling) for
iPhone users, with devices from the
iPhone 6S to the
iPhone X
The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten", also known as iPhone 10) is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from October 27, 2017, it was re ...
being compatible. The feature had been active on some
Android phones from
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
,
Samsung Mobile
Samsung Mobile Division is one of five divisions within Samsung Electronics, belonging to the Samsung Group, and consists of the Mobile Communications Division, Telecommunication Systems Division, Computer Division, MP3 Business Team, Mobile So ...
and
Sony Mobile
Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. ...
prior to its launch on
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
devices.
On 3 July 2019, Vodafone launched their
5G network in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
,
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
,
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
,
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
and
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, with more towns and cities launching throughout 2019.
Fixed network
On 1 April 2012, Vodafone agreed a takeover of
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 ...
at a cost of just over £1 billion. The acquisition gave Vodafone access to its own
fixed line network, in addition to the already established mobile network, allowing the company to begin work on launching a variety of fixed line services to Enterprise customers in addition to the ex-CWW customers which it acquired during the initial takeover.
Following the acquisition of CWW, Vodafone began working on a consumer Broadband and TV proposition, using its fibre network. Vodafone launched its broadband offering to the UK public on 12 October 2015. Work is ongoing for the launch of Vodafone's UK TV service, which the company originally planned to launch before the spring of 2016, however has since delayed to a later date.
Radio frequency summary
Vodafone LTE 1800 MHz is only available in some areas, having been refarmed from 2G (1800 MHz), whereas the LTE 2100 MHz is available in a rapidly increasing number of areas and is very potent in areas such as Cardiff, London, Manchester and Birmingham.
Marketing
Stores
Vodafone operates a retail estate consisting of both company owned and franchise (known as Partner Agent) stores. In total, there are more than 400 stores located across the UK.
A 'Tech Team' section (similar to Apple's
Genius Bar
The Genius Bar is a technical support service provided by Apple Inc. inside Apple Stores to support the use of its products and services. The locations provide concierge-style, face-to-face support for customers from "Geniuses" who are specially t ...
) was rolled out in November 2011 to Vodafone 'Elite' status Stores in cities & large towns, offering free advice to all customers of the mobile network. Vodafone also introduced the 'RED Box' to its stores at the same time, which allows phone users to transfer contents between handsets.
Vodafone VIP
Beginning in 2010, Vodafone UK operated a 'VIP' reward scheme as part of a partnership with
Live Nation, in which customers could access tickets 48 hours before release for major UK events including
T in the Park
T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...
,
Isle of Wight Festival
The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970.
The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early ...
,
Reading & Leeds festival,
London Fashion Week
London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London twice a year, in February and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fashion wee ...
and the
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World Ch ...
. Some of the music festivals involved in the scheme had their own 'Vodafone VIP' areas, available to customers by winning certain competitions. In May 2013, the Vodafone VIP Mobile Application developed by
Invitation Digital was launched on both iPhone and Android platforms.
In January 2014, Vodafone announced the closure of Vodafone VIP with immediate effect.
Freebees
Vodafone UK announced a new advert called Freebees on July 17, 2007, accompanied by a £3million marketing campaign featuring two
CGI bees named Jack and Mike voiced by Dan Antopolski and
Karl Theobald
Karl Julian Theobald (born 5 August 1969) is an English actor and comedian. He has played 'Landlord' in ''Plebs'' and Martin Dear in Channel 4 sitcom ''Green Wing''.
Early life
Theobald was born in Great Yarmouth, to Wendy Theobald. He grew ...
. Each time a
pay-as-you-go
Pay as you go or PAYG may refer to:
Finance
* Pay-as-you-go tax, or pay-as-you-earn tax
* Pay-as-you-go pension plan
* PAYGO, the practice in the US of financing expenditures with current funds rather than borrowing
* PAUG, a structured financia ...
customer top-up £15, 100 Minutes of free International Calls and in 2008 (such as a discount on a film from
Blockbuster
Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to:
*Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived.
Corporations
* Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain
** Bl ...
, or free credit toward their balance) or top-up and get free texts and Web. that can free weekend calls. In May 2011 Rewardz were renamed Rewards to reflect marketing changes and Vodafone UK launched a new Freebee adverts £5 Weekend Freebee on 17 April 2008 and Freedom Freebee on 21 October 2008
30 Day Service Guarantee and Flexi-Upgrade
In 2017 Vodafone UK launched two new features one called 30-day network satisfaction for new and upgrading customers that if they aren't happy with the Vodafone service and coverage within the first 30 days of having the contract the user can cancel and leave the network, the other is called Flexi-Upgrades this allows Vodafone customers after 6 months of being in their current contract to upgrade to a new device and contract after paying a certain amount off of their contract/device plans.
In June 2018 the 30-day Network Satisfaction was renamed and readvertised as the 30-day Service Guarantee, however in July 2019 the 30-day return period was removed by Vodafone and has now been reduced to only 14-days.
Slogans
Vodafone used the slogan 'How are you?' in the UK between 2003 and 2006, but briefly switched in 2007 to "Make the Most of Now". In 2009 they switched to the international 'Power to you' branding, which the company used for 8 years.
On 6 October 2017, Vodafone unveiled a new global brand campaign. This saw the iconic logo return to its former 2D appearance and the introduction of their new slogan "The future is exciting... Ready?"
The Official Vodafone Big Top 40
From November 2010, Vodafone had used commercial radio's syndicated chart show to advertise its products and offers. Sunday evenings between 4 & 7, produced at London's Capital FM and syndicated to some of the biggest local radio stations in the UK, the show was hosted by Marvin Humes & Kat Shoob.
For the first 12 months of their sponsorship, Vodafone pushed their 'Freebees' brand and the show was named 'The Vodafone Freebees Big Top 40 Show' before being changed to simply 'The Vodafone Big Top 40' in 2008.
In 2017, the show was named 'The Official Vodafone Big Top 40' and the logo was re-made to fit the colours of Vodafone's new subsidiary mobile network, VOXI.
In March 2022, the show gained a new sponsor and was renamed ''The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40''.
Be Unlimited
On 10 July 2019, Vodafone launched their new ad campaign "Be Unlimited" to accompany the launch of their new Unlimited Data plans which include 4G and 5G network coverage.
Controversies
Data charges
Vodafone UK came under criticism in June 2011 after they scrapped their fair-use policy on data charges, meaning those without monthly allowances would pay 50p for every 10MB of data used.
Loss of network
A break-in at the Vodafone exchange centre in
Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
on 28 February 2011 left several hundreds of thousands of customers in the west of London without network access, after burglars stole computer equipment and damaged network hardware.
Subcontracting to third-parties
Vodafone came under fire after the
Manchester Arena bombing
On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande.
Twenty-three people were killed, including ...
of May 2017. The company outsourced the National Mutual Aid Telephony system out to a third party under the name of
Content Guru. When the attack took place, the system failed to operate and resulted in those affected by the attack not being able to contact police or emergency services.
VOXI by Vodafone
On 9 September 2017, Vodafone launched their VOXI SIM-only plans which offered users under 25 unlimited minutes, texts and endless data to social media websites and apps. In 2018 the upper age limit was raised to 30. As of November 2018, Voxi has started selling contracted and SIM-free phones. In April 2019 the upper age limit was removed by Vodafone meaning that VOXI is now available to all users regardless of their age.
VOXI users gained access to Vodafone's 5G services in October 2019 however access was limited to users on the unlimited plan only. Users of lower prices plans gained access to the new technology in September 2020 along with unlimited video streaming.
Virgin Mobile
On 6 November 2019, it was announced that
Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Ara ...
would end their 20-year contract with
BT and
EE moving to and starting to use Vodafone's network from 2021, initially for 5 years until 2026.
However in February 2022 it was confirmed that Virgin Media have sought to cancel the MVNO deal due to merging with O2 to create the parent company named Virgin Media O2.
References
External links
*
{{Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom
Vodafone
Mobile phone companies of the United Kingdom
Telecommunications companies established in 1985
Companies based in Newbury, Berkshire
1985 establishments in England