Jump to content

Vodafone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Vodafone TV)

Vodafone Group Plc
FormerlyRacal Strategic Radio Ltd (1984–1985)
Racal Telecom Ltd (1985–1988)
Racal Telecom Plc (1988–1991)
Vodafone Group Plc (1991–1999)
Vodafone AirTouch Plc (1999–2000)
Company typePublic
ISIN
IndustryTelecommunications
FoundedJuly 17, 1984; 40 years ago (1984-07-17)
Founders
HeadquartersNewbury, Berkshire, England, UK
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Products
RevenueDecrease €36.717 billion (2024)[1]
Decrease €3.665 billion (2024)[1]
Decrease €1.505 billion (2024)[1]
Total assetsDecrease €144.350 billion (2024)[1]
Total equityDecrease €60.998 billion (2024)[1]
OwnerEtisalat by e& (15%)
Number of employees
84,173 (2024)[2]
Subsidiaries
List
[5]
Websitewww.vodafone.com

Vodafone Group Plc (/ˈvoʊdəfoʊn/) is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England.[6] It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.

As of October 2024, Vodafone owns and operates networks in 16 countries, with partner networks in 46 further countries.[7] Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides telecommunications and IT services to corporate clients in 150 countries.[8]

Vodafone has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company has a secondary listing on the NASDAQ as American depositary receipts (ADRs).

Name

[edit]

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone (the latter a sensational spelling of "phone"), chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".[9]

History

[edit]

Racal Telecom: 1980 to 1991

[edit]

In 1980, Ernest Harrison, then chairman of Racal Electronics Plc – the UK's largest manufacturer of military radios – negotiated a deal with Lord Weinstock of the UK General Electric Company (GEC), which gave Racal access to some of GEC's battlefield radio technology. Harrison directed the head of Racal's military radio division, Gerry Whent, to explore the use of that technology for civilian purposes. Whent visited a mobile radio factory run by the US company General Electric (unrelated to UK GEC) in Virginia, that same year.[10] In 1981, the Racal Strategic Radio Ltd subsidiary was established.[11][12][13]

Jan Stenbeck, 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 Government of the United Kingdom about foreign ownership, the terms were revised, and in December 1982 the Racal-Millicom partnership was awarded the second UK mobile phone network licence.[14] 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 Business and Trade, "the bid submitted by Racal-Millicom Ltd … provided the best prospect for early national coverage by cellular radio."[15]

Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 under the new name of Racal-Vodafone (Holdings) Ltd,[16] with its first office based in the Courtyard in Newbury, Berkshire, and[17] shortly thereafter Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited.[18] The first non-Vodafone employee to make a UK mobile phone call was comedian Ernie Wise, from St Katharine Docks, London on 1 January 1985.[19] 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.[20]

On 26 October 1988, Racal Telecom, majority held by Racal Electronics, went public on the London Stock Exchange with 20% of its stock floated. The successful flotation led to a situation where Racal's stake in Racal Telecom Plc 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.[21][22]

Vodafone Group, then Vodafone AirTouch: 1991 to 2000

[edit]

On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodafone Group Plc, with Gerry Whent as its CEO.[23]

In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two-thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6 million.[24] 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.[25] In a similar move the company acquired the 80% that it did not already own of Astec Communications, a service provider with 21 stores.[26]

In January 1997, Whent retired and Chris Gent took over as CEO.[27] 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.[28]

On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of American service provider AirTouch and changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch Plc. The merged company commenced trading on 30 June 1999.[29] The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of the largest German mobile network.[30] To gain antitrust approval for the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in Mannesmann's German competitor, E-Plus.[31]

On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its US wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon.[32] The merger was completed on 4 April 2000, just a few months prior to Bell Atlantic's merger with GTE to form Verizon Communications.[33]

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, the UK mobile operator.[34] Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory.[35] The hostile takeover provoked strong protests 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.[35] 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.[36]

Vodafone Group: 2000 to present

[edit]
The headquarters of Vodafone Romania in Bucharest
Vodafone office in Madrid, Spain
Vodafone office in Barcelona, Spain

On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group Plc.[37]

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.)[38]

Vodafone sponsored the Premier League team Manchester United F.C. in football from 2000 until the 2005–06 season.[39]

In 2007, Vodafone entered into a title sponsorship deal with the McLaren 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.[40][41]

On 1 December 2011, it acquired the Reading-based Bluefish Communications Ltd, an ICT consultancy company.[42] The acquired operations formed the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within its subsidiary Vodafone Global Enterprise,[42] which was to focus on implementing strategies in cloud computing, and strengthen its professional services offering.[42]

In April 2012, Vodafone announced an agreement to acquire Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) for £1.04 billion.[43] The acquisition gave Vodafone access to CWW's fibre network for businesses, enabling it to offer unified communications to enterprises. On 18 June 2012, Cable & Wireless shareholders voted in favour of the Vodafone offer.[44][45]

On 2 September 2013, Vodafone announced it would be selling its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications for $US130 billion.[46] 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.[47][48]

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.[49]

In January 2020, Vodafone confirmed that it has pulled out of Diem Association (known as Libra Association at the time), the governing council for the Facebook-created global digital currency initiative.[50]

In June 2023, it was announced that Vodafone UK would merge with Three UK; Vodafone would own 51% of the combined company, and CK Hutchison Holdings 49%. If approved by regulators, the merger will create a group with 27 million mobile customers.[51] On 3 July 2024, Vodafone and Virgin Media O2 announced to extend their network-sharing deal into the mid-2030s, including a spectrum shift to aid Vodafone's $19 billion merger with Three UK, which faced a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation. The deal, involved selling some of its combined 59% of the best 5G spectrum to Virgin Media O2, aimed to address regulatory concerns about reducing mobile networks from four to three in Britain. Vodafone pledged a £11 billion investment in 5G if the merger was approved, asserting the merger would strengthen competition.[52] In November 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority provisionally concluded that the Vodafone and Three Merger could go ahead – if both companies make price promises for consumers and commit to boosting the UK's 5G rollout.[53]

In June 2024, Vodafone Group sold an 18% stake in Indus Towers, raising $1.82 billion to reduce its debt. Initially planning to sell a 10% stake, strong investor demand led Vodafone to nearly double the sale. Bharti Airtel, increased its stake in Indus to about 49% by purchasing around 1% of the shares. Vodafone sold 484.7 million shares at 310-341 rupees each, generating 153 billion rupees. The sale reduced Vodafone's stake in Indus from 21.5% to 3.1%.[54]

Operations

[edit]

Following a period of worldwide expansion which began in 1999, in the 2010s Vodafone entered a period of retrenchment and simplification of its operations.[55]

Africa

[edit]
Networks in Africa
Majority-owned Minority-owned Partner networks
DR Congo* Kenya* Ethiopia Ghana
Lesotho* Mozambique* Kenya
South Africa* Tanzania*
* Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom Group

Cameroon

[edit]

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.[56] The partnership ceased to operate in September 2017 following the withdrawal of its license by the government.[57]

Ghana

[edit]

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.[58]

On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary OneTouch, was rebranded as Vodafone Ghana.[59]

In February 2023, Vodafone Group has concluded the sale of its 70% stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group in a bid to streamline its African portfolio, thus exiting the Ghanaian market.[60]

Libya

[edit]

On 24 February 2010, the group signed a partner network agreement with the second-largest operator in Libya, al Madar.[61]

South Africa

[edit]

On 3 November 2004, the company announced that its South African affiliate Vodacom had agreed to introduce Vodafone's international services, such as Vodafone live! and partner agreements, to its local market.[62]

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.[63]

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.[64]

On 18 May 2009, Vodacom entered the JSE Limited 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.[65]

In April 2011, Vodacom rebranded with the Vodafone logo.[66]

Middle East

[edit]
Networks in the Middle East
Partner networks
Oman
Qatar

Bahrain

[edit]

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.[67]

Egypt

[edit]

In November 1998, the Vodafone Egypt network went live under the name Click GSM, and was rebranded to Vodafone in 2002.[68]

On 8 November 2006, the company announced a deal with Telecom Egypt, 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.[69]

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 would be exiting the Egyptian market as a telecom operator. Telecom Egypt said that it has no plans to sell its 45% stake.[70]

On 21 December 2020, Vodafone announced that had failed to reach an agreement in its discussions with STC regarding the sale of Vodafone's 55% shareholding in Vodafone Egypt.[71]

Vodafone sold its shares in Vodafone Egypt to Vodacom in 2022 in which Vodafone has a shareholding of 65%.[72]

Oman

[edit]

In January 2021, Vodafone obtained a license to establish and operate public telecommunications services in Oman. In September 2021 Vodafone in Oman signed an agreement with Ericsson to deploy, operate and maintain 4G and 5G core and radio access (RAN) greenfield network[73][74][75] and an agreement with Netcracker Technology to deploy Netcracker Digital BSS.[76] Vodafone will be the third operator in the Sultanate of Oman.[77][78]

Qatar

[edit]

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.[79] Commercial operations officially began on 1 March 2009.[80] In February 2018 Vodafone Europe agreed to sell their stake in the Qatar joint venture.[81]

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.[82]

United Arab Emirates

[edit]

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.[83]

The Americas

[edit]
Networks in the Americas
Partner networks
Argentina
Canada
Chile
Peru
USA*
* Enterprise Only
Canada

Vodafone's network partner in Canada was Rogers Wireless. but has since changed to Telus[84]

Chile

On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with the Chilean Entel PCS 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 between two companies: Telefonica Movistar and Entel PCS.[85]

Brazil

In August 2013, Vodafone has started the MVNO operation in Brazil, as a corporative M2M operator.[86]

United States

In the United States, Vodafone previously owned 45% of Verizon Wireless in a joint venture with Verizon Communications, 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.[46] In 2004, Vodafone made an unsuccessful bid for the entirety of AT&T Wireless; however, Cingular Wireless, at the time a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth (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).[87]

In 2013, Vodafone was considered for acquisition by U.S.-based AT&T.[88][89] Ultimately, the deal did not move forward.[90]

Asia

[edit]
Networks in Asia
Joint Venture Partner Networks
India Japan Singapore South Korea
Taiwan


India

[edit]

On 28 October 2005, the company announced the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in India's Bharti Enterprises, which operated the largest mobile phone network in India under the brand name Airtel.[91] Then on 11 February 2007, the Company agreed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in Hutch Essar for US$11.1 billion.[92] 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.[93] In May 2011, Vodafone Group Plc bought the remaining shares of Vodafone Essar from Essar Group Ltd for $5 billion.[94] 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.[95]

By late January 2017, Vodafone Group's unit in India and Idea Cellular Ltd were in preliminary talks to merge.[96] 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,[97] accounting for 16% of the Indian cellphone service market.[98] Vodafone would own 45.1 percent of the new operator and Idea's parent company, the Aditya Birla Group, 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.[99] The Telecom ministry (DoT) cleared the Vodofone–Idea merger on 9 July 2018. On 31 August 2018, Vodafone Idea became a legal entity and the largest telecom service provider in India.[100] 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.[101][102][103]

Japan

[edit]

In 1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile Internet service in response to DoCoMo's i-Mode 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.[104] 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!. In March 2006, Vodafone sold Vodafone Japan to SoftBank. In October 2006, SoftBank changed Vodafone Japan's name to 'SoftBank Mobile'.[105] On 17 March 2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone Japan to SoftBank 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. In November 2010, Vodafone divested its remaining Softbank shares.[106]

Other Asia

[edit]

On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community as M1 was signed as partner network.[107] Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone', after both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement.[108] 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. On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with Digicel 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.[109]

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile money transfer service on Roshan's (Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan was added to the Vodafone footprint.[110]

dtac in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 March 2009.[111]

Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a partner network on 22 July 2009,[112] while Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan was signed on 12 November 2009.[113]

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, who operate the 3 brand.[114] In the same year, M1 also ended their partnership in Singapore.[115]

In February 2013, Vodafone together with China Mobile participated in bidding for one of the two newly opened Myanmar Mobile licences.[116]

At the beginning of September 2014, the Vietnamese mobile operator Vinaphone signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Vodafone.[117]

Europe

[edit]
Networks in Europe
Majority-owned Partnerships
Albania Czech Republic Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bosnia & Herzegovina
Germany Greece Bulgaria Channel Islands Croatia Cyprus
Ireland Italy Denmark Estonia Finland France
Netherlands Northern Cyprus
(indirectly owned) 		Hungary Iceland Latvia Lithuania
Portugal Romania Luxembourg Montenegro North Macedonia Norway
Turkey United Kingdom Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden
Switzerland Ukraine

Vodafone Magyarország Zrt ("Vodafone Hungary") was formed as a subsidiary company in July 1999, although Vodafone has since sold its shares in the company.[118][119] The acquisition of Mannesmann AG, completed on 12 April 2000, created subsidiaries in Germany and Italy, and increased the Group's indirect holding in SFR. The Vodafone brand in Italy was introduced as Omnitel Vodafone in 2001, which became Vodafone Omnitel in 2002; finally the current name Vodafone Italy was introduced in 2003, dropping Omnitel altogether.[120]

In 2001, the company acquired Eircell, the largest wireless communications company in Ireland, from Eircom.[121] Eircell was subsequently rebranded as Vodafone Ireland. In February 2002, Radiolinja of Finland joined Vodafone as a partner network.[122] 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.[123] 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;[124] this was followed by Radiolinja's Estonian service in February 2005 in anticipation of the later juridical merger with Uninet [et].[125][126]

In January 2003, the company signed a group-wide partner agreement with mobilkom Austria and as a result Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia were added to the community.[127] In April 2003, Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market.[128] On 21 July 2003, Lithuania was added to the community, with the signing of a Partner Network Agreement with Bitė.[129]

In February 2004, Vodafone signed Partner Network Agreements with Luxembourg's LuxGSM,[130] and with Cyta of Cyprus. Cyta agreed to rename its mobile phone operations to Cytamobile-Vodafone.[131] In April 2004, the company acquired a British airtime provider, Singlepoint, for £405m from John Caudwell's Caudwell Group, adding approximately 1.5 million customers and sites in Stoke-on-Trent to existing sites in Newbury (HQ), Birmingham, Warrington and Banbury.[132] In November 2004, Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.[133]

In June 2005, the Company bought the Czech mobile operator Oskar[134] which was rebranded as Oskar-Vodafone.[135]

On 28 October 2005, Connex in Romania was rebranded as Connex-Vodafone,[136] and on 31 October 2005, the company reached an agreement to sell Vodafone Sweden to Telenor for approximately €1 billion. After the sale, Vodafone Sweden became a partner network.[137]

In December 2005, Vodafone won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest mobile phone company, Telsim, for US$4.5 billion.[138] Early in January 2007, Telsim in Turkey adopted Vodafone dual branding as Telsim Vodafone, and on 1 April 2007, became Vodafone Turkey. In addition, Vodafone Turkey also provides service in Northern Cyprus.[139]

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.[140] On 22 February 2006, the company announced that it was extending its footprint to Bulgaria with the signing of Partner Network Agreement with Mobiltel, which is part of the mobilkom Austria group.[141]

The headquarters of Vodafone Ireland in Dublin

In April 2006, the company announced that it had signed an extension to its Partner Network Agreement with Bitė Group, enabling its Latvian subsidiary Bite Latvija [lv] to become the latest member of Vodafone's global partner community.[142] 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 subsidiary.[143] On 24 July 2006, the respected head of Vodafone Europe, Bill Morrow, quit unexpectedly,[144] and on 25 August 2006, the company announced the sale of its 25% stake in Belgium's Proximus for €2 billion. After the deal, Proximus remained part of the community as a Partner Network.[145]

On 5 October 2006, Vodafone announced the first single-brand partnership with Og Vodafone which would operate under the name Vodafone Iceland,[146] 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.[147] 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.[148]

The Vodafone Lion on the Löwenparade in Munich, Germany

On 1 May 2007, Vodafone added Jersey and Guernsey to the community, as Airtel was signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies.[149] In June 2007, Vodafone UK began optimising web pages accessed through Vodafone Live!, which was criticised by The Register for interfering with mobile commerce websites.[150] On 1 August 2007, Vodafone Portugal launched Vodafone Messenger, a service with Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger.[151] 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.[152]

On 17 April 2008, Vodafone extended its footprint to Serbia as Vip mobile was added to the community as a Partner Network,[153] and on 20 May 2008, the Company added VIP Operator as a Partner Network, thereby extending the global footprint to the North Macedonia.[154]

On 30 October 2008, the company announced a strategic, non-equity partnership with Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) group of Russia. The agreement adds Russia, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan to the group's footprint.[155]

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, the Luxembourg unit of another partner network, Belgacom of Belgium.[156]

On 4 April 2011, Vodafone sold its 44% stake in SFR, the second largest operator in France, to Vivendi for €7.95 billion.[157]

In March 2013, the Spanish operations of Vodafone signed an agreement with Orange S.A. to co-invest €1 billion in the expansion of Spain's fibre-optic cable broadband network, which would enable Vodafone to reach an additional 6 million customers in Spain by 2017.[158] 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.[159] In February 2014, Vodafone made an offer to acquire Spain's largest cable operator, ONO, for total consideration, including associated net debt acquired, of €7.2 billion.[160]

In October 2015, Russia's Mobile TeleSystems and Vodafone expanded their 2008 strategic partnership; this resulted in the rebranding of MTS Ukraine to Vodafone Ukraine.[161]

On 31 December 2016, Vodafone Group's Dutch operations merged with Liberty Global's Ziggo brand, creating VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V.[162]

In April 2017, Vodafone was rated the worst mobile provider in the UK for the seventh year in succession in a "Which?" survey.[163]

Consolidation period since 2019

[edit]

Since 2019, Vodafone has entered into a period of consolidation of its European business, characterised mainly by sales of parts of its business, and the spinning off of some of its assets into separate companies. In 2019, Vodafone sold its stake in Vodafone Malta to Monaco Telecom.[164] Also 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.[165] The mobile towers business was named Vantage Towers on 24 July 2020.[166] Vantage Towers is headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, with towers infrastructure in Germany, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Italy and Ireland comprising a total of 68,000 towers.[167][168]

In 2023, Vodafone sold its stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group, and Vodafone Magyarország (Vodafone Hungary) to the Hungarian state.[169][170] Later in June 2023, Vodafone also announced that it intended to merge Vodafone UK with Three UK, which is owned by CK Hutchison Holdings.[171] Vodafone would own 51% of the newly formed company.[171] The announcement met criticism from consumer agencies in the UK, leading to an antitrust inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority into whether the newly merged company could substantially lessen competition.[172]

In September 2023, Zegona Communications also confirmed that it was in talks to buy Vodafone España.[173] On 31 May 2024, Zegona Communications completed the acquisition process, separating from the business from Vodafone Group.[174]

On 15 March 2024, Swisscom purchased 100% of Vodafone Italy for 8 billion euros, thus merging it with its subsidiary FASTWEB. As part of the agreement, Vodafone will continue to provide certain services, such as branding, to FASTWEB for up to 5 years.[175][176][177][178][179][180]

Oceania

[edit]
Networks in Oceania
Minority-owned Partner networks
Australia Cook Islands Fiji
French Polynesia Kiribati
New Zealand Papua New Guinea
Samoa Vanuatu

Australia

[edit]
Main article: Vodafone Australia

In October 1993, Vodafone Australia's network went live. In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy high-speed MPLS backbone network built by Lucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.[181] In October 2005, it began launching 3G technology in Australia.[182] On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mobile phone retailer Crazy John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.[183]

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.[184] 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.[185]

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.[186]

On 13 July 2020, VHA merged with TPG to create TPG Telecom Limited.[187]

Fiji

[edit]
Vodafone shop at Nadi Airport, 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.[188]

New Zealand

[edit]
Main article: One NZ
The headquarters of Vodafone New Zealand in Auckland City

In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live. In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later became Vodafone New Zealand.[189] In August 2005, Vodafone launched 3G technology in New Zealand.[182] On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd largest internet service provider, iHug.[190] In October 2013, Vodafone began its rollout of 4G to provincial New Zealand, with the launch of the system in holiday hotspots around Coromandel.[191]

In 2019, Vodafone sold its New Zealand division to a consortium of investors, making it now independent from the parent company. It retained a licensing agreement to continue use of the Vodafone name and logo in exchange for fee payments,[192][193] up until September 2022 when Vodafone New Zealand announced that it would change its name to One New Zealand in early 2023.[194] It is estimated that this would save the company NZ$20 to 30 million a year by not having to pay Vodafone licensing fees.[195] The rebranding was completed in April 2023.[196]

Vodafone Global Enterprise

[edit]
Main article: Vodafone Global Enterprise

Vodafone Global Enterprise is the business services division, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group. It was established in April 2007 to provide telecommunications and information technology services to large corporations.[197][198][199]

The division offers integrated communications in cloud computing, unified communications and collaboration.[197][198] Its services include domestic and international voice and data, machine-to-machine services, mobile email, mobile broadband, managed services, mobile payment and mobile recording.[200]

In December 2011, it acquired the Reading-based Bluefish Communications Ltd, an ICT consultancy company.[201] The acquired operations formed the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within VGE,[42] working on cloud computing and professional services.[202]

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.[203] VGE's major customers include Deutsche Post,[204] The Linde Group,[205] Unilever,[206] and Volkswagen Group.[207]

Products and services

[edit]
A Vodafone shop selling a range of products in Leeds, England

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.[208] This was after the Director of Internet Services resigned in September 2010 tweeting "5 days before I leave Vodafone. Freedom beckons."[209] 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.[210]

Mobile money transfer services

[edit]

In March 2007, Safaricom, which is part owned by Vodafone and the leading mobile communication provider in Kenya, launched mobile payment software developed by Vodafone.[211]

By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in Kenya had gained 1.6 million customers.[212] By 2011 there were fourteen million M-Pesa accounts by which held 40 percent of the country's savings.[213] Following M-PESA's success in Kenya, Vodafone announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan.[214] 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[215] and India.[216]

In February 2012, Vodafone announced a worldwide partnership with Visa.[217]

Health services

[edit]

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).[218] One of its early success stories is with the Novartis-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.[219]

Vodafone Foundation

[edit]

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".[220] They often work in collaboration with other charitable groups. Below are some examples of their initiatives:

  • DreamLab, a volunteer computing mobile app developed in cooperation with Imperial College London and used to research on cancer, COVID-19, 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.[221]

Advertising

[edit]

Since 2021, Vodafone's global advertising has used the slogan "Together We Can". Previous slogans have been, in 2017, "The future is exciting. Ready?" and, in 2009, was "Power to You".[222]

Sponsorships

[edit]

Vodafone's sponsorships include:

Corporate affairs

[edit]

Senior management

[edit]

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 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.[229]

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.[230]

Arun Sarin 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.[231]

The fourth CEO, Vittorio Colao, stepped up from Deputy Chief Executive in July 2008.[232]

No. Chief Executive Tenure
1 Sir Gerald Whent October 1988 – December 1996
2 Sir Christopher Gent January 1997 – July 2003
3 Arun Sarin July 2003 – July 2008
4 Vittorio Colao July 2008 – September 2018
5 Nick Read October 2018 – December 2022
6 Margherita Della Valle January 2023 – present[233]

Financial results

[edit]

Vodafone reports its results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Financial performance has been as follows:[1]

Year ended 31 March Turnover €m Profit before tax €m Profit for the year €m Basic eps (cents)
2024 36,717 1,620 1,505 4.45
2023 45,706 12,816 12,335 42.77
2022 45,580 3,954 2,624 7.20
2021 43,809 4,400 536 0.38
2020 44,974 795 (455) (3.13)
2019 43,666 (2,613) (7,644) (16.25)
2018 46,571 3,878 2,788 15.87
2017 47,631 2,792 (6,079) (7.83)
2016 49,810 (190) (5,122) (20.27)
2015 48,385 1,734 7,477 28.72

Criticisms

[edit]
Protestors outside Vodafone shop.
UK Uncut protestors outside a Vodafone shop in Liverpool

Tax avoidance

[edit]

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 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 HMRC (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.[234]

The news of this legal tax avoidance sparked angry protests, beginning in October 2010, outside Vodafone shops across the UK, organised under the banner of UK Uncut. The protests caused the closure of various stores across the UK.[235]

In 2011, Private Eye magazine and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism alleged that Vodafone's Swiss branches were run by a single part-time bookkeeper. The report claimed hardly any business was done from there, indicating that the main purpose of the Zug office was tax avoidance. The report claimed the money was borrowed from the Swiss branch of the Luxembourg company, allowing it to take advantage of Luxembourg's laws, which exempts foreign branches of companies from tax, and Swiss laws, which almost completely exempt local branches of foreign companies. According to the expose, this would have otherwise generated a British tax bill of a little over £2 billion. It said Vodafone publishes a single, combined set of accounts for its Luxembourg subsidiaries and their Swiss branches. For the one company, profits worth £1.6 billion were taxed at less than 1% in 2011, and the profits are likely to have been attributed to Switzerland. In its response to these allegations, Vodafone has said the Swiss branch has not been involved in Vodafone's global financing for a number of years. It is, therefore, irrelevant in respect to global financing arrangements.[236]

Vodafone was also assessed a US$2.5 billion tax over its acquisition of 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.[237][238] 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.[239] 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.[240]

Communications blackout during the Arab Spring

[edit]

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.[241] 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."[242] 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.[243] The Daily Telegraph of the UK reported, "The Egyptian government's action is unprecedented in the history of the internet."[244] 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."[245] Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said the company was obliged by law to comply with the instructions of the Egyptian government.[246] 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.[247][248]

Poor customer service

[edit]

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.[249] In response, they have developed a "new" network, and now provide a 30-day satisfaction guarantee.[250]

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?.[251]

Unlimited roaming costs on stolen phones

[edit]

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.[252]

Breaches of consumer protection rules

[edit]

In October 2016, Vodafone was fined a record £4.6m by Ofcom for "serious" breaches of consumer protection rules.[253]

In October 2017, Citizens Advice undertook a mystery shopping exercise which found that Vodafone, along with EE and Three, were not reducing customers' bills after fixed deals finished which meant that they were paying an extra £22 a month on average.[254]

Surveillance infrastructure

[edit]

In June 2014, Vodafone revealed information about their and other telecommunication operators' 'direct access systems', content data and metadata interception programmes globally.[255]

Scam investigation

[edit]

In March 2019, the Indian investigation agency CBI filed a plea in the Supreme Court of India against Vodafone and Airtel alleging non cooperation in the Saradha chitfund scam. The court listed the matter for a hearing on 8 April 2019.[256]

Brand identity

[edit]
  • 1991–1997
    1991–1997
  • 1997–2006
    1997–2006
  • 2006–2017
    2006–2017
  • 2017–present
    2017–present

See also

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vodafone.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f "Annual Results 2024" (PDF). Vodafone Group Plc. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Who we are". Vodafone. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  3. ^ 50% owned by Vodafone Greece
  4. ^ 5% owned by Vodafone
  5. ^ "Simplified-Vodafone-Group-holding-structure-31-March-2022.pdf" (PDF). investors.vodafone.com. Retrieved 15 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Vodafone moves world HQ to London". BBC News. 24 June 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  7. ^ "Where we operate". Vodafone. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Vodafone Global Enterprise". Vodafone Group plc. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  9. ^ "UK – About Us – History – 1982". Vodafone Group. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012.
  10. ^ Wilson, Richard (19 February 2009). "Obituary: Sir Ernest Harrison". electronicsweekly.com. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  11. ^ "Origin of Vodafone". theoriginof.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  12. ^ "History of Racal electronics plc". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  13. ^ "History of Vodafone". celtnet.org.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  14. ^ 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
  15. ^ "Cellular Telephone System, Written Answers by Mr. Butcher to House of Commons (Vol 34 cc211-3W)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 16 December 1982. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
  16. ^ "Racal Calls up Vodafone". Electronics and Power. 30 (4): 268. 1984. doi:10.1049/ep.1984.0137.
  17. ^ "The rapid rise of Vodafone". BBC News. 4 February 2000. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  18. ^ "Vodafone Group Public Ltd Co". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2007.
  19. ^ "How Ernie Wise (Almost) Made the UK's First Mobile Phone Call". 29 December 2014.
  20. ^ Eadie, Alison (30 December 1986). "Racal pays £110 million to own Vodafone". The Times. Times Newspapers.
  21. ^ "Shares in Racal Telecom". The Guardian. Guardian Newspapers. 27 October 1988.
  22. ^ "Racal's Key Milestones". salbu.co.za. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  23. ^ Wise, Deborah (16 September 1991). "Vodafone's solo debut could boost share price". The Guardian. Guardian Newspapers.
  24. ^ Cane, Alan (10 July 1996). "Companies and Finance: UK: Vodafone acquires Talkland in Pounds 60m deal". Financial Times. p. 22.
  25. ^ Reguly, Eric (20 November 1996). "Vodafone pockets Peoples Phone". The Times. Times Newspapers.
  26. ^ "News Digest: Vodafone snaps up Astec". Investors Chronicle. 7 February 1997. p. 55.
  27. ^ "Sir Christopher Gent". The Guardian. 27 May 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Vodafone logo". Famous logos. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  29. ^ Hasell, Nick (30 June 1999). "Scramble for Vodafone as blue chips retreat". The Times. Times Newspapers.
  30. ^ "Vodafone AirTouch Considers Making a Bid for Mannesmann". The Wall Street Journal. 11 November 1999. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  31. ^ Krause, Reinhardt (8 June 1999). "Vodafone's Quest Begins With AirTouch Alliance". Investor's Business Daily. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 4 April 2007.
  32. ^ "Making airwaves". Financial Times. 22 September 1999.
  33. ^ "Bell Atlantic and GTE Chairmen Praise FCC Merger Approval". Verizon. 16 June 2000. Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  34. ^ "Mannesmann rejects Vodafone bid". BBC News. 14 November 1999. Retrieved 6 April 2007.
  35. ^ a b "Vodafone seals Mannesmann merger". BBC News. 3 February 2000. Retrieved 6 April 2007.
  36. ^ "Vodafone seals Mannesmann merger". BBC. 11 February 2000. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  37. ^ "Timeline to Vodafone's $130 Billion Verizon Deal". Cellular News. 2 September 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  38. ^ TDC forms roaming partnership with Vodafone Reuters, 17 December 2001
  39. ^ "Vodafone ends Man Utd shirt deal". BBC. 23 November 2005. Retrieved 19 June 2022.
  40. ^ McLaren seal deal with Vodafone BBC, 14 December 2005
  41. ^ Collantine, Keith (14 March 2013). "McLaren to lose Vodafone title sponsorship". F1 Fanatic. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  42. ^ a b c d "Vodafone acquires Bluefish Communications". Bloomberg. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  43. ^ Browning, Jonathan; Campbell, Matthew (23 April 2012). "Vodafone Agrees to Buy Cable & Wireless for $1.7 Billion". Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  44. ^ "Vodafone One Step Closer To Completing Deal After CWW Shareholder Approval". Nasdaq.com. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  45. ^ Browning, Jonathan (18 June 2012). "Vodafone Gets Approval for C&W Bid as Orbis Drops Opposition". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  46. ^ a b Peston, Robert (2 September 2013). "Vodafone sells Verizon stake for $130bn". BBC News. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  47. ^ "Vodafone sets end date for 3G as Project Spring ends". Mobileeurope.co.uk. 17 May 2016. Archived from the original on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  48. ^ Abboud, Leila; Sandle, Paul (2 September 2013). "Vodafone's Project Spring to pressure competitors". Reuters. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  49. ^ Frangoul, Anmar (7 June 2017). "Vodafone introduces new rules to stop its ads appearing alongside fake news and hate speech". Cnbc.com. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  50. ^ Titcomb, James (21 January 2020). "Vodafone hangs up on Libra in latest blow to Facebook's cryptocurrency". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
  51. ^ "Vodafone Three deal to create UK's largest mobile firm". BBC News. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
  52. ^ "Vodafone agrees new Virgin Media O2 tie-up to ease competition concerns". 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  53. ^ "Vodafone-Three merger could get green light, watchdog says". BBC News. 5 November 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  54. ^ Sriram, M.; Mandayam, Nandan (19 June 2024). "UK's Vodafone sells $1.8 bln stake in India's Indus Towers; Airtel boosts stake". Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  55. ^ "Vodafone Group still focusing on retrenchment". TelcoTitans. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  56. ^ "Vodafone Cameroun launches the implementation of its "Youth Program"". Cameroon Concord. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  57. ^ Kiki, Bandy (12 November 2017). "Vodafone ends operations in Cameroon following withdrawal of license". Kinnaka's Blog. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  58. ^ "Vodafone buys 70% stake in Ghana mobile firm". The Guardian. 3 July 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  59. ^ "GT rebranded to vodafone". Modern Ghana. 16 April 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  60. ^ "Vodafone sells out of Ghana". Connecting Africa. 21 February 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  61. ^ "Access: Inserting human right into telecoms one company at a time". Daily News Egypt. 21 August 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  62. ^ "Agreement with Vodacom". Investegate. 3 November 2004. Archived from the original on 13 January 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  63. ^ Vodacom focuses on data as profit drops after debut Reuters, 19 May 2009
  64. ^ "Vodafone to acquire an additional 15% stake in Vodacom Group". My Broadband. 6 November 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  65. ^ "Vodacom makes strong debut on JSE". Mail and Guardian. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  66. ^ "Vodacom rebrands, turns 'red and simple". Biz Community. 4 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  67. ^ "Vodafone Extends Partner Community With Second MTC Agreement". 29 December 2003. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  68. ^ "About Vodafone Egypt". Vodafone Egypt. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  69. ^ "Vodafone and Telecom Egypt announce new strategic partnership". Investegate. 8 November 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  70. ^ "It's Official: STC to acquire 55 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt for $2.39 billion". menabytes. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  71. ^ "Vodafone set to stay in Egypt after STC deal collapses". Reuters. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  72. ^ Pham, Manny (13 December 2022). "Vodacom acquires majority stake in Vodafone Egypt". Developing Telecoms. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  73. ^ "Ericsson powers Vodafone Oman 5G". www.ericsson.com. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  74. ^ "Vodafone Oman signs 5G agreement with Ericsson". SatellitePro ME. 30 September 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  75. ^ Barton, James (1 October 2021). "Vodafone Oman selects Ericsson as core network supplier". Developing Telecoms. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  76. ^ "Vodafone Oman Selects Netcracker Digital BSS To Support Mobile Network Launch". Totaltelecom. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  77. ^ "Vodafone gets license to become the third operator in Oman". Zawya. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  78. ^ "Vodafone gets green light to operate in Oman". Itp.net. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  79. ^ "It's Time to hang up on Vodafone Qatar". Bold Mag. 31 July 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  80. ^ "Vodafone Qatar network fully restored, says company". Gulf Times. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  81. ^ "Vodafone Europe agrees to sell stake in Qatar joint venture for €301m". Irish Times. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 24 June 2018.
  82. ^ "Vodafone Qatar Premieres the Region's First 5G MiFi® Mobile Hotspot from Inseego". Business Wire. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  83. ^ "Vodafone signs deal in UAE". Mobile News. 28 January 2009. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  84. ^ "Rogers Communications and Vodafone team up, but what does it all mean?". Financial Post. 3 June 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  85. ^ "Vodafone enters Chile via Entel partnership". Telecoms. 13 May 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  86. ^ "Vodafone sets up M2M brand in Brazil". Telecoms. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  87. ^ "Vodafone weighs AT&T Wireless bid". CNN. 9 February 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  88. ^ Thomas, Daniel (3 December 2013). "Should AT&T buy Vodafone?". Telecoms Correspondent. Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  89. ^ Bienenstock, Robin (3 September 2013). "VIDEO: Vodafone Seen to Become Takeover Target for AT&T". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  90. ^ Thomson, Amy (27 January 2014). "AT&T Gives Up Right to Bid for Vodafone Within Six Month". Technology Dept. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  91. ^ "Vodafone returns to India with a 10% stake in Bharti". The Guardian. 29 October 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  92. ^ "Vodafone acquires Hutchison Essar stake". FT. 8 May 2007. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  93. ^ "Vodafone unleashes media blitzkrieg to re-brand Hutch". 26 September 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  94. ^ Smith, George. (1 July 2011) Vodafone, Essar Said to Split $785 million Tax Bill in India. Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  95. ^ Vodafone plans $2 billion investment to raise stake in Indian unit – FT | Reuters. Uk.reuters.com (7 October 2013). Retrieved on 8 December 2013.
  96. ^ Purnell, Newley; Woo, Stu (30 January 2017), "Vodafone in Talks to Merge Indian Unit With Idea Cellular", Wall Street Journal, New York City, retrieved 31 January 2017
  97. ^ "Mobile subscribers in India by company 2019". Statista. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  98. ^ Vodafone's Indian unit and Idea Cellular announce merger, BBC News, 20 March 2017. Retrieved: 20 March 2017
  99. ^ Vodafone forced to merge India unit amid price war, Aliya Ram and Simon Mundy, Financial Times, London, 20 March 2017. Retrieved: 20 March 2017
  100. ^ "Telecom Ministry clears Vodafone – Idea merger with conditions". Business Standard. 9 July 2018.
  101. ^ "Vodafone Idea re-brands itself 'Vi'". The Indian Express. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  102. ^ "Vodafone and Idea brands are now "Vi"" (PDF).
  103. ^ "Vodafone Idea rebrands itself, to go by brand name Vi". Zee News. 7 September 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  104. ^ Vodafone to make J-Phone offer
  105. ^ "SoftBank turnaround program for Vodafone-Japan". Euro technology. 21 May 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  106. ^ Sonne, Paul (10 November 2010). "Vodafone to Sell Back Softbank Interests for $5 Billion". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  107. ^ "Vodafone to link up with mobile firm in Far East". The Scotsman. 4 November 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  108. ^ "Launch of SmarTone-Vodafone – a new brand" (PDF). SmarTone. 27 April 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  109. ^ "Vodafone, Digicel in roaming partnership". Telecom Paper. 6 February 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  110. ^ "Vodafone launches a mobile money transfer system in Afghanistan". Plus World. 28 February 2008. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  111. ^ "Dtac partners with Vodafone". Telecom Paper. 26 March 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  112. ^ "Vodafone expands into Azerbaijan with Azerfon". Telecom Paper. 23 July 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  113. ^ "Chunghwa and Vodafone sign partnership agreement". Tele Geography. 12 November 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  114. ^ "Hutchison Telecom and Vodafone agree on partnership in Hong Kong". Bloomberg. 20 September 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  115. ^ "SmarTone, M1 dropping Vodafone marketing partnerships at end of year". www.telegeography.com. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  116. ^ "Vodafone, China Mobile eye Myanmar". Investvine.com. 5 April 2013. Archived from the original on 11 January 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2013.
  117. ^ "Vinaphone, Vodafone ink cooperation deal". TeleGeography. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  118. ^ "London Stock Exchange | London Stock Exchange". www.londonstockexchange.com. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  119. ^ "Vodafone Hungary's company history". Vodafone.hu. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  120. ^ "Omnitel: l'ingresso della Olivetti nella telefonia mobile". Olivetti. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  121. ^ Vodafone buys Eircell in £2.4bn all-share deal The Telegraph, 22 December 2000
  122. ^ "Vodafone, Radiolinja sign second partner contract". Telecom Paper. 14 February 2002. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  123. ^ "Radiolinja Eesti signs partner agreement with Vodafone". Telecom Paper. 3 December 2002. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  124. ^ "Elisa adopts single umbrella brand – Elisa brand" (Press release). Elisa Corporation. 15 April 2004. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  125. ^ "Radiolinja ja Uninet ühinevad Elisa kaubamärgi alla" (in Estonian). Baltic News Service. 2 February 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2022 – via Postimees.
  126. ^ "Elisa brand implemented in Estonia as well" (Press release). Elisa Corporation. 4 February 2005. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  127. ^ "Vodafone signs network agreement with Mobilkom Austria". Tele Geography. 7 January 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  128. ^ "Vodafone's global mobile services available in Iceland". Telecom Paper. 17 April 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  129. ^ "Vodafone signs Partner Network Agreement with Bite [sic]". Telecom Paper. 21 July 2003. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  130. ^ "LUXGSM, Vodafone sign Partner Network Agreement". Telecom Paper. 16 February 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  131. ^ "Cyta Mobile buddies up with Vodafone". Tele Geography. 23 February 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  132. ^ "Vodafone snaps up Singlepoint". BBC. 11 August 2003. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  133. ^ "Vodafone launches 3G in UK". The Guardian. 10 November 2004. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  134. ^ "Vodafone's Romanian, Czech cellco purchases finalised". Tele Geography. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  135. ^ "Duální branding Oskar – Vodafone". Marketing and Media. 4 July 2005. Archived from the original on 23 May 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  136. ^ "Connex-Vodafone: "impreuna" cu McCann Erickson". Ad Players. 30 November 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  137. ^ "Vodafone sells Swedish arm". The Local. 31 October 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  138. ^ "Vodafone buys Turkish mobile firm". BBC News. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  139. ^ "Vodafone Turkey rebranding". Total Tele. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  140. ^ "Vodafone call centre set to close". BBC. 27 September 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  141. ^ "Mobiltel becomes Vodafone partner". Tele Geography. 23 February 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  142. ^ "Vodafone, BITE [sic] Latvija sign co-branding agreement". Telecom Paper. 11 April 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  143. ^ "Record £14.9bn loss at Vodafone". BBC. 30 May 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  144. ^ "Bill Morrow, Vodafone's Turnaround Guru, Walks Away". Cellular-News. 24 July 2006. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
  145. ^ "Vodafone to sell Proximus stake". Financial Times. FT. 25 August 2006. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  146. ^ "First Single Brand Ptnrship". Trust.net. 5 October 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  147. ^ "Vodafone sells Swisscom Mobile stake". Financial Times. FT. 19 December 2006. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  148. ^ "Vodafone buys in to enterprise mobility". The Register. 22 November 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  149. ^ "Jersey & Guernsey Airtel to launch as Airtel-Vodafone". Tele Geography. 2 May 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  150. ^ Ray, Bill (6 June 2007). "Vodafone Live 'improvements' kill mCommerce". The Register. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  151. ^ "Vodafone Portugal launches Yahoo! Messenger service". Telecom Paper. 13 August 2007. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  152. ^ "European Mobile Market – Europe's Top 50 Mobile Network Operators by Subscribers". Telecomsmarketresearch.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  153. ^ "VIP Mobile, Vodafone sign strategic partnership". Telecom Paper. 17 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  154. ^ "Vodafone inks partnership deal with Macedonia's VIP Mobile". Tele Geography. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  155. ^ "MTS and Vodafone". Marketwatch. 30 October 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  156. ^ Vodafone signs partner market agreement with Tango. Efytimes.com (23 March 2009). Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  157. ^ Bawden, Tom (4 April 2011). "Vodafone sells SFR stake to Vivendi". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  158. ^ "Frankfurt Business Media". cfo-insight.com. Archived from the original on 12 January 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  159. ^ "Vodafone agrees 7.7bn-euro deal to buy Kabel Deutschland". BBC News. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  160. ^ Kate Holton and Robert Hetz (10 February 2014). "Vodafone bids for Spanish cable operator Ono". Reuters.
  161. ^ MTS Ukraine to operate under Vodafone brand, Interfax Ukraine (16 October 2015)
  162. ^ Avery, Greg; Harden, Mark (31 December 2016). "Liberty Global Completes $3.7B Netherlands Joint-Venture Deal With Vodafone". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  163. ^ "Vodafone rated worst mobile provider by Which? survey". BBC. 24 April 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  164. ^ "Vodafone Announces Agreement To Sell Vodafone Malta". Vodafone.com. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  165. ^ Williams, Christopher; O'Dwyer, Michael (26 July 2019). "Vodafone soars on mast spin-off plan". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  166. ^ O'Dwyer, Michael (24 July 2020). "Vodafone to float European towers division next year". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  167. ^ "Vodafone spins off telco tower assets as Vantage Towers". www.datacenterdynamics.com. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  168. ^ "Vodafone hands London a Brexit blow as it floats business in Frankfurt". Evening Standard. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  169. ^ "Vodafone announces sale of Vodafone Ghana". Vodafone.com. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  170. ^ "Vodafone to sell Hungarian unit for $1.82bn". Financier Worldwide. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  171. ^ a b "Merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK to create one of Europe's leading 5G networks". Vodafone.com. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  172. ^ "UK regulator examining Vodafone-Hutchison's $19 billion mobile merger". Reuters. 11 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  173. ^ "UK's Zegona in talks to buy Vodafone's Spain business". Reuters. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  174. ^ Press, Europa (31 May 2024). "Zegona cierra la compra de Vodafone España por 5.000 millones y José Miguel García releva a Mario Vaz como CEO". www.europapress.es. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  175. ^ Times, The Swiss (28 February 2024). "Swisscom Want to Buy Vodafone & Merge it With Fastweb". The Swiss Times. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  176. ^ Doran, Neal; Purnell2024-02-28T13:34:00, Joseph. "Vodafone lines up Italy escape, taking €8bn in Fastweb cash". TelcoTitans.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  177. ^ Sharma, Ray. "Swisscom to Acquire Vodafone Italia from Vodafone Group, to Merge with Fastweb". www.thefastmode.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  178. ^ "Swisscom buys Vodafone Italia in $8.7 billion deal". Yahoo Finance. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  179. ^ "Swisscom to Buy Vodafone's Italian Business for €8 Billion". Bloomberg.com. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  180. ^ Lead, Telecom (15 March 2024). "Swisscom Announces EUR 8 Billion Acquisition Deal with Vodafone Italia". TelecomLead. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
  181. ^ "Vodafone Australia 3G Core Data Network". 3g.co.uk. 2 December 2004. Retrieved 8 July 2008.
  182. ^ a b "Vodafone to start up 3G services in October 2005". Telecom Paper. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  183. ^ Guan, Lilia (6 September 2008). "Vodafone buys Crazy John's". Itnews.com.au. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  184. ^ "Merger of Vodafone & Hutchison in Australia will strengthen local mobile competition". Frost and Sullivan. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  185. ^ "VHA to buy back outsourced Vodafone-branded stores". Telecom Paper. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  186. ^ "Vodafone boosts 3G coverage to 94%". Tele Geography. 1 September 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  187. ^ "Implementation of Scheme of Arrangement" (PDF). Australian Securities Exchange. 13 July 2020.
  188. ^ "Acquisition – Vodafone Fiji Becomes 100% Locally-owned". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  189. ^ "Busy signals bountiful at Vodafone". NZ Herald. 30 June 2000. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  190. ^ "Vodafone buys ihug for $41 million". Computer World. 9 October 2006. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  191. ^ Vodafone brings 4G to Coromandel holiday hotspots | Scoop News. Scoop.co.nz (24 October 2013). Retrieved on 8 December 2013.
  192. ^ "Vodafone Group completes sale of Vodafone New Zealand". Vodafone.com. 31 July 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  193. ^ "Vodafone sells New Zealand arm for $2.2bn". France 24. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  194. ^ "Vodafone NZ to rebrand as One New Zealand in early 2023". Comms Update. 28 September 2022. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  195. ^ Pullar-Strecker, Tom (27 September 2022). "Vodafone to save millions by changing name to One New Zealand". Stuff NZ. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  196. ^ "One NZ CEO on the new rebrand and partnership with Starlink". Newstalk ZB. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  197. ^ a b "Vodafone Global Enterprise profile – LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  198. ^ a b "Vodafone Group Plc VOD Launch of Standard Global Ser". Bloomberg. 18 March 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  199. ^ "Bloomberg Business week – Company Overview of Vodafone Global Enterprise". Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  200. ^ "Products and solutions by type". Vodafone Global Enterprise. Archived from the original on 8 June 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  201. ^ "Net Knives- Knives Online Company". Yahoo!. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  202. ^ "Vodafone Group's Vodafone Global Enterprise Acquires Bluefish Communications". RTT. 1 December 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  203. ^ "Vodafone Global Enterprise – Management Team". Vodafone. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  204. ^ "Deutsche Post DHL builds wide area network with Vodafone". Computer Weekly. 12 March 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  205. ^ "The Linde Group selects Vodafone to provide global managed mobile services". Computer Weekly. 11 October 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  206. ^ "Unilever chooses Vodafone for mobile management". Computer Weekly. 14 December 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  207. ^ "VW chooses mobile giant". This is Staffordshire. 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  208. ^ Ray, Bill (18 October 2011). "Vodafone turns its back on '360". The Register. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  209. ^ Ray, Bill. "Vodafone's 360-man walks". The Register. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  210. ^ "Vodafone launch 'world's cheapest phone'" (stm). BBC. Retrieved 1 October 2005.
  211. ^ "Safaricom and Vodafone launch M-PESA, a new mobile payment service". Archived from the original on 16 October 2010. Retrieved 16 October 2010.
  212. ^ M-PESA Reaches 1.6 Million Customers in 12 Months[dead link‍]
  213. ^ Saylor, Michael (2012). The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything. Perseus Books/Vanguard Press. p. 202; 304. ISBN 978-1593157203.
  214. ^ Vodafone and Roshan Launch First Mobile Money Transfer Service in Afghanistan[dead link‍]
  215. ^ "M-PESA launched in South Africa". 1 September 2010.
  216. ^ "HDFC Bank and Vodafone launch Indian M-PESA". Banking and Payments Asia. 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012.
  217. ^ Sarah, Clark (27 February 2012). "Vodafone to roll out mobile payments with Visa". NFC World. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  218. ^ Vodafone: Not when but how for wireless health Mobihealthnews, 1 December 2009
  219. ^ "SMS for life: Tanzania Pilot Project Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  220. ^ "Vodafone Foundation". Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  221. ^ "500 people win a place on the Vodafone World of Difference programme" (PDF). Vodafone UK. 19 December 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
  222. ^ King, Ian (5 October 2017). "Is Vodafone's new ad campaign a little too clever?". Sky News. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  223. ^ "Vodafone activates Al Ahly sponsorship and reveals who is #1 (‫#‏رقم1)". Think Marketing. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  224. ^ "Beşiktaş yeni sezon formalarını tanıttı". www.aa.com.tr. 23 July 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  225. ^ Spencer, Jamie (8 March 2021). "Man Utd in talks over new £70m a season shirt sponsor". 90min.com. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  226. ^ "Olympiacos Piraeus Kit History". Football Kit Archive. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  227. ^ "Ferrari Join Forces with Vodafone". Autosport. 25 May 2001. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  228. ^ "Vodafone to end McLaren sponsorship deal". Reuters. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  229. ^ Cowe, Roger (29 May 2002). "Sir Gerald Whent". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  230. ^ "Sir Christopher's biggest regret". The Telegraph. 20 February 2003. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  231. ^ "Arun Sarin conferred Honorary knighthood". 5 February 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  232. ^ Wearden, Graeme (27 May 2008). "Vittorio Colao: from Brescia to the top of Vodafone". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  233. ^ "Vodafone Chief Executive Nick Read To Resign; Names Margherita Della Valle Interim Chief Executive". RTT News. 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  234. ^ "BRITAIN'S £6BN VODAFONE BILL". Private Eye. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  235. ^ "UK Uncut protesters blockade Vodafone stores across country". The Guardian. 15 June 2014.
  236. ^ "Vodafone: Undercover investigation exposes Swiss branches: TBIJ". Thebureauinvestigates.com. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  237. ^ "Vodafone not liable for up to $4.4bn of India penalties". BBC News. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  238. ^ "Vodafone given $2.5bn Indian tax bill deadline". BBC News. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  239. ^ "India sends renewed £1.4bn tax notice to Vodafone". BBC News. 16 February 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  240. ^ "Vodafone Scores a Victory in $3 Billion Tax Dispute With India". www.msn.com. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  241. ^ "Egypt Internet users report major network disruptions". Reuters. 27 January 2011. Archived from the original on 31 January 2011.
  242. ^ "Vodafone CEO Explains Egypt Phone Cutoff". The Wall Street Journal. 28 January 2011.
  243. ^ Salter, R.G. (1 March 2011). "Vodafone: Egypt forced us to send text messages". Yahoo News. ISBN 9781466641983.
  244. ^ Williams, Christopher (28 January 2011). "How Egypt shut down the internet". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
  245. ^ Cowie, James (27 January 2011). "Egypt Leaves the Internet". Renesys.com. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  246. ^ "Egypt's Web, Mobile Communications Severed". The Wall Street Journal. 28 January 2011.
  247. ^ Financial Times, 25 July 2011, Andrew Parker, "Vodafone faces pressure over Egypt protests"
  248. ^ Riley, Tess (28 July 2011). "Shedding light on Vodafone's digital darkness". New Statesman. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  249. ^ Moses, Asher. "Vodafone customers seething over dropped calls, slow data". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  250. ^ "Network guarantee – Vodafone Australia". Vodafone.com.au. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  251. ^ "Which? survey reveals customers' least favourite mobile network". BBC News. 23 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  252. ^ Brignall, Miles (17 October 2014). "Vodafone customer's £15,000 billing nightmare after mobile phone theft". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  253. ^ "Vodafone fined £4.6m by Ofcom for breaking customer rules". BBC News. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  254. ^ "Mobile phone networks overcharging loyal customers by up to £38 a month – Home". Citizensadvice.org.uk. 14 June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 March 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  255. ^ Garside, Juliette (6 June 2014). "Vodafone reveals existence of secret wires that allow state surveillance". Guardian. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  256. ^ "Saradha case: Supreme Court seeks reply from Vodafone, Airtel on CBI plea". Mint. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
[edit]
  • Official website Edit this at Wikidata
  • Business data for Vodafone Group Plc:
  • Vodafone companies grouped at OpenCorporates
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vodafone&oldid=1255770081"