A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
 Logo used since 2017 | |
 Vodafone headquarters in Newbury | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Predecessors |
|
| Founded | 16 September 1991 |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | Newbury, Berkshire, England, UK |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Products | |
| Revenue |  €36.717 billion (2024)[1] |
| €3.665 billion (2024)[1] | |
| €1.505 billion (2024)[1] | |
| Total assets | €144.350 billion (2024)[1] |
| Total equity | €60.998 billion (2024)[1] |
Number of employees | 84,173 (2024)[2] |
| Divisions | Vodafone Global Enterprise |
| Subsidiaries | List |
| Website | www |
Vodafone Group Plc (/ˈvoʊdəfoʊn/) is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England.[4] It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
As of June 2024[update], Vodafone owns and operates networks in 16 countries, with partner networks in 44 further countries.[5] Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provides telecommunications and IT services to corporate clients in 150 countries.[6]
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 exchange as American depositary receipts (ADRs).
Etisalat by e& is Vodafone's largest single shareholder, and owns 14% of Vodafone's shares.[7]
Name
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".[8]
History
As a Racal Telecom brand: 1980 to 1991
In 1980, Ernest Harrison, then chair of Racal – 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.[9] In 1981, the Racal Strategic Radio Ltd subsidiary was established.[10][11][12]
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.[13] 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."[14]
Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 under the new name of Racal-Vodafone (Holdings) Ltd,[15] with its first office based in the Courtyard in Newbury, Berkshire, and[16] shortly thereafter Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]
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 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.[20][21]
Vodafone Group, then Vodafone Airtouch: 1991 to 2000
On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodafone Group, with Gerry Whent as its CEO.[22]
In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two-thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.6 million.[23] 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.[24] In a similar move the company acquired the 80% that it did not already own of Astec Communications, a service provider with 21 stores.[25]
In January 1997, Whent retired and Chris Gent took over as CEO.[26] 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.[27]
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.[28] The acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of the largest German mobile network.[29] To gain antitrust approval for the merger, Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in Mannesmann's German competitor, E-Plus.[30]
On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its US wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon.[31] The merger was completed on 4 April 2000, just a few months prior to Bell Atlantic's merger with GTE to form Verizon Communications.[32]
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.[33] Gent would later say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other's home territory.[34] 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.[34] 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.[35]
Vodafone Group plc: 2000 to present
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On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group plc.[36]
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.)[37]
Vodafone sponsored the Premier League team Manchester United F.C. in football from 2000 until the 2005–06 season.[38]
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.[39][40]
On 1 December 2011, it acquired the Reading-based Bluefish Communications Ltd, an ICT consultancy company.[41] The acquired operations formed the nucleus of a new Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within its subsidiary Vodafone Global Enterprise,[41] which was to focus on implementing strategies in cloud computing, and strengthen its professional services offering.[41]
In April 2012, Vodafone announced an agreement to acquire Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) for £1.04 billion.[42] 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.[43][44]
On 2 September 2013, Vodafone announced it would be selling its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications for $US130 billion.[45] 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.[46][47]
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.[48]
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.[49]
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.[50]
Operations
Following a period of worldwide expansion which began in 1999, in the 2010s Vodafone entered a period of retrenchment and simplification of its operations.[51]
Africa
| Majority-owned | Minority-owned | Partner networks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DR Congo* | Egypt* | Ethiopia | Ghana | |||
| Lesotho* | Mozambique* | Kenya | ||||
| South Africa* | Tanzania* | |||||
| * Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom Group | ||||||
Egypt
In November 1998, the Vodafone Egypt network went live under the name Click GSM, and was rebranded to Vodafone in 2002.[52]
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.[53]
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.[54]
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.[55]
Vodafone sold its shares in Vodafone Egypt to Vodacom in 2022 in which Vodafone has a shareholding of 65%.[56]
South Africa (Vodafone)
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.[57]
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.[58]
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.[59]
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.[60]
In April 2011, Vodacom rebranded with the Vodafone logo.[61]
Ghana
On 3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom for $900 million. The acquisition was consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led consortium won the second fixed-line licence in Qatar on 15 September 2008.[62]
On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary OneTouch, was rebranded as Vodafone Ghana.[63]
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.[64]
Libya
On 24 February 2010, the group signed a partner network agreement with the second-largest operator in Libya, al Madar.[65]
Cameroon
On 23 September 2016, Vodafone extended its activities to Cameroon by signing a partnership with Afrimax, a 4G-LTE telecommunications operator in Africa. Vodafone Cameroon Launched a "Youth Program" in the Universities to support and encourage the Cameroonian students.[66] The partnership ceased to operate in September 2017 following the withdrawal of its license by the government.[67]
Middle East
| Partner networks |
|---|
| Oman |
| Qatar |
Bahrain
On 29 December 2003, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC group. The agreement involved co-operation in Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-Vodafone.[68]
Qatar
In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar under the name "Vodafone Qatar". Vodafone Qatar is located at QSTP, the Qatar Science & Technology Park.[69] Commercial operations officially began on 1 March 2009.[70] In February 2018 Vodafone Europe agreed to sell their stake in the Qatar joint venture.[71]
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.[72]
United Arab Emirates
On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner network agreement with Du, the second-largest operator in the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involved co-operation on international clients, handset procurement, mobile broadband etc.[73]
Oman
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[74][75][76] and an agreement with Netcracker Technology to deploy Netcracker Digital BSS.[77] Vodafone will be the third operator in the Sultanate of Oman.[78][79]
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[80]
- 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.[81]
- Brazil
In August 2013, Vodafone has started the MVNO operation in Brazil, as a corporative M2M operator.[82]
- 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.[45] 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).[83]
In 2013, Vodafone was considered for acquisition by U.S.-based AT&T.[84][85] Ultimately, the deal did not move forward.[86]
Asia
| Joint Venture | Part Networks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | Japan | Singapore | South Korea | ||
| Taiwan | |||||
India
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.[87] Then on 11 February 2007, the Company agreed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in Hutch Essar for US$11.1 billion.[88] 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.[89] In May 2011, Vodafone Group Plc bought the remaining shares of Vodafone Essar from Essar Group Ltd for $5 billion.[90] 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.[91]
By late January 2017, Vodafone Group's unit in India and Idea Cellular Ltd were in preliminary talks to merge.[92] 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,[93] accounting for 16% of the Indian cellphone service market.[94] 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.[95] 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.[96] 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.[97][98][99]
Japan
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.[100] 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'.[101] 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.[102]
Other Asia
On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community as M1 was signed as partner network.[103] Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone', after both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement.[104] 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.[105]
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.[106]
dtac in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 March 2009.[107]
Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a partner network on 22 July 2009,[108] while Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan was signed on 12 November 2009.[109]
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.[110] In the same year, M1 also ended their partnership in Singapore.[111]
In February 2013, Vodafone together with China Mobile participated in bidding for one of the two newly opened Myanmar Mobile licences.[112]
At the beginning of September 2014, the Vietnamese mobile operator Vinaphone signed a strategic co-operation agreement with Vodafone.[113]