Vodafone Group plc /'vo?d?fo?

n/ is a British multinational telecommunications co

mpany headquartered in London and with its registered office in Newbury, Berkshi
re.[2] It is the world's 2nd-largest mobile telecommunications company measured
by both subscribers and 2013 revenues (behind China Mobile), and had 434 million
subscribers as of 31 March 2014.[3]
Vodafone owns and operates networks in 21 countries and has partner networks in
over 40 additional countries.[4] Its Vodafone Global Enterprise division provide
s telecommunications and IT services to corporate clients in over 65 countries.
Vodafone has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent
of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalisation of approximately 89.1 bill
ion as of 6 July 2012, the third-largest of any company listed on the London Sto
ck Exchange.[5] It has a secondary listing on NASDAQ.
Contents [hide]
1 Name
2 History
2.1 Evolution as a Racal Telecom brand: 1980 to 1991
2.2 Vodafone Group, then Vodafone Airtouch plc: 1991 to 2000
2.3 Vodafone Group plc: 2000 to present
3 Adverts
4 Operations
4.1 Africa and the Middle East
4.2 The Americas
4.3 Asia-Pacific
4.4 Europe
4.5 Vodafone Global Enterprise
5 Products and services
5.1 Mobile money transfer services
5.2 mHealth services
5.3 Vodafone Foundation
6 Corporate affairs
6.1 Senior management
6.2 Financial results
7 Criticisms
8 Surveillance Infrastructure
9 References
10 External links
Name[edit]
The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to "reflect
the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones."[6]
History[edit]
The evolution of 'Vodafone' started in 1982 with the establishment of the 'Racal
Strategic Radio Ltd' subsidiary of Racal Electronics plc
UK's largest maker of
military radio technology, which formed a joint venture with Millicom called 'Ra
cal', which evolved into the present day Vodafone.[7][8][9]
Evolution as a Racal Telecom brand: 1980 to 1991[edit]
Vodafone's original logo, used until the introduction of the speechmark logo in
1997
In 1980, Sir Ernest Harrison OBE, the then chairman of Racal Electronics plc. ag
reed to a deal with Lord Weinstock of General Electric Company plc to allow Raca
l to access some of GEC's tactical battle field radio technology. The head of Ra
cal's military radio division Gerry Whent was briefed by Ernest Harrison to driv
e the company into commercial mobile radio. Whent visited GE s mobile radio factor
y in Virginia, USA the same year to understand the commercial use of military ra
dio technology.[10]

Jan Stenbeck, head of a growing Swedish conglomerate, set up an American company

, Millicom, Inc. and approached Racal s Whent in July 1982 about bidding jointly f
or 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 UK concerns ab
out foreign ownership, the terms were revised, and in December 1982, the Racal-M
ilicom partnership was awarded the second UK mobile phone network license.[11] F
inal ownership of Racal-Millicom, Ltd was 80% Racal, with Millicom holding 15% p
lus royalties and venture firm Hambros Technology Trust holding 5%. According to
the UK Secretary of State for Industry, "the bid submitted by Racal-Millicom Lt
d provided the best prospect for early national coverage by cellular radio."[12]
Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 under the new name, Racal-Vodafone (Hold
ings) Ltd,[13] with its first office based in the Courtyard in Newbury, Berkshir
e, and[14] shorty thereafter Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommuni
cations Group Limited.[15] On 29 December 1986, Racal Electronics issued shares
to the minority shareholders of Vodafone worth GB110 million;[16] and Vodafone be
came a fully owned brand of Racal.
On 26 October 1988, Racal Telecom, majority held by Racal Electronics; went publ
ic on the London Stock Exchange with 20% of its stock floated. The successful fl
otation led to a situation where the Racal's stake in Racal Telecom was valued m
ore than the whole of Racal Electronics. Under stock market pressure to realise
full value for shareholders, Racal demerged Racal Telecom in 1991.[17][18]
Vodafone Group, then Vodafone Airtouch plc: 1991 to 2000[edit]
On 16 September 1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as Vodaf
one Group,[19] with Gerry Whent as its CEO.
In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland it did not already ow
n for 30.6 million.[20] On 19 November 1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purcha
sed Peoples Phone for 77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers were overwhel
mingly using Vodafone's network.[21] In a similar move the company acquired the
80% of Astec Communications that it did not own, a service provider with 21 stor
es.[22]
In January 1997, Gerald Whent retired and Christopher Gent took over as the CEO.
The same year, Vodafone introduced its Speechmark logo, composed of a quotation
mark in a circle, with the O's in the Vodafone logotype representing opening an
d closing quotation marks and suggesting conversation.
On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of AirTouch Communications, Inc
. and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. The merged company commenced tr
ading on 30 June 1999.[23] In order to gain anti-trust approval for the merger,
Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk.[24] The acquisition gave Voda
fone a 35% share of Mannesmann, owner of the largest German mobile network.
On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S. wireless assets with tho
se of Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon Wireless.[25] The merger was completed
on 4 April 2000, just a few months prior to Bell Atlantic's merger with GTE to f
orm Verizon Communications, Inc.
In November 1999, Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rej
ected. Vodafone's interest in Mannesmann had been increased by the latter purcha
se of Orange, the UK mobile operator.[26] Chris Gent would later say Mannesmann'
s move into the UK broke a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete in each other'
s home territory.[27] The hostile takeover provoked strong protest in Germany, a
nd 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 bil
lion, then the largest corporate merger ever.[27] The EU approved the merger in

April 2000 when Vodafone agreed to divest the 'Orange' brand, which was acquired
in May 2000 by France Tlcom. The conglomerate was subsequently broken up and all
manufacturing related operations sold off.
Vodafone Group plc: 2000 to present[edit]
The headquarters of Vodafone Romania in Bucharest
On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group plc.
In 2001, the Company acquired Eircell, the largest wireless communications compa
ny in Ireland, from eircom.[28] Eircell was subsequently rebranded as Vodafone I
reland. Vodafone then went on to acquire Japan's third-largest mobile operator J
-Phone, which had introduced camera phones first in Japan.[29]
On 17 December 2001, Vodafone introduced the concept of "Partner Networks", by s
igning TDC Mobil of Denmark. The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafo
ne 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 i
nto markets where it does 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.)[30]
In 2007, Vodafone entered into a title sponsorship deal with the McLaren Formula
One team, which traded as "Vodafone McLaren Mercedes" until the sponsorship end
ed at the end of the 2013 season.[31][32]
In May 2011, Vodafone Group Plc bought the remaining shares of Vodafone Essar fr
om Essar Group Ltd for $5 billion.[33]
On 1 December 2011, it acquired the Reading based Bluefish Communications Ltd
an
ICT consultancy company.[34] The acquired operations formed the nucleus of a ne
w Unified Communications and Collaboration practice within its subsidiary Vodafo
ne Global Enterprise,[34] which will focus on implementing strategies and soluti
ons in cloud computing, and strengthen its professional services offering.
In April 2012, Vodafone announced an agreement to acquire Cable & Wireless World
wide (CWW) for 1.04 billion.[35] Vodafone was advised by UBS AG, while Barclays a
nd Rothschild advised Cable & Wireless.[35] The acquisition will give Vodafone a
ccess to CWW's fibre network for businesses, enabling it to take unified communi
cations solutions to large enterprises in UK and globally; and expand its enterp
rise service offerings in emerging markets. On 18 June 2012, Cable & Wireless' s
hareholders voted in favour of the Vodafone offer, exceeding the 75% of shares n
ecessary for the deal to go ahead.[36][37]
On 24 June 2013, Vodafone announced it would be buying German cable company Kabe
l Deutschland. The takeover is valued at 7.7 billion, and was recommended over th
e bid of rival Liberty Global.[38]
On 2 September 2013, Vodafone announced it would be selling its 45% stake in Ver
izon Wireless to Verizon Communications for $130 billion, in one of the biggest
deals in corporate history.[39]
In October 2013, Vodafone began its rollout of 4G to provincial New Zealand, wit
h the launch of the system in holiday hotspots around Coromandel.[40]
In February 2014, Vodafone made an offer to acquire Spain s largest cable operator
, ONO, in a deal rumoured to be around 7 billion.[41]
Adverts[edit]
Since 2010, the adverts feature two bees named Jack and Mike who are voiced by K

arl Theobald and Dan Antopolski. Other adverts feature Star Wars character Yoda.
Idris Elba does voice over for adverts.
Operations[edit]
Africa and the Middle East[edit]
Networks in the Middle East and Africa
Majority-owned
Minority-owned
Partner networks
DR Congo1
Egypt Kenya Kuwait
Ghana Lesotho1
Bahrain
Mozambique1
Qatar2
Libya
Tanzania1
South Africa1
UAE
1Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom Group
2Effective ownership is not majority, but full control exercised by the group.
Egypt
In November 1998, Vodafone Egypt network went live under the name ClickGSM.
On 8 November 2006, the Company announced a deal with Telecom Egypt, resulting i
n further co-operation in the Egyptian market, and increasing its stake in Vodaf
one Egypt. After the deal, Vodafone Egypt was 55% owned by the group, while the
remaining 45% was owned by Telecom Egypt.
On 28 January 2011, Vodafone complied with Egyptian government instructions to s
uspend Internet service "in selected areas" during a period of anti-Mubarak prot
ests. The company issued a statement that "Under Egyptian legislation, the autho
rities have the right to issue such an order and we are obliged to comply with i
t."[42][43]
Vodafone also received public and media criticism for allowing the authorities t
o send mass pro-government messages via SMS over their network during the protes
ts. One such message requested that "honest and loyal men" should "confront the
traitors and criminals". Vodafone later issued a statement asserting that they h
ad no choice but to allow the messages to be broadcast, and that they had compla
ined to the Egyptian authorities about the practice.[44]
Kuwait
On 18 September 2002, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with MTC group
of Kuwait. The agreement involved the rebranding of MTC to MTC-Vodafone. On 29
December 2003, Vodafone signed another Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's M
TC group. The second agreement involved co-operation in Bahrain and the branding
of the network as MTC-Vodafone.
South Africa (Vodacom)
On 3 November 2004, the Company announced that its South African affiliate Vodac
om had agreed to introduce Vodafone's international services, such as Vodafone l
ive! and partner agreements, to its local market.
In November 2005, Vodafone announced that it was in exclusive talks to buy a 15%
stake of VenFin in Vodacom Group, reaching agreement the following day. Vodafon
e and Telkom then had a 50% stake each in Vodacom. Vodafone now owns 57.5% of Vo
dacom after purchasing a 15% stake from Telkom.[45]
On 9 October 2008, the company offered to acquire an additional 15 per cent stak
e in Vodacom group from Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement were anno
unced 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 cen
t to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to make Vodacom its exclusi
ve sub-Saharan Africa investment vehicle, as well as continuing to maintain the
visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction is closed in May/June 2009.
On 18 May 2009, Vodacom entered the JSE Limited stock exchange in South Africa a

fter Vodafone increased its stake by 15% to 65% to take a majority holding, desp
ite disputes by local trade unions.
In April 2011, Vodacom, rebranded themselves with the Vodafone logo.
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 locate
d at QSTP, the Qatar Science & Technology Park
Ghana
On 3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom for $900
million. The acquisition was consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led
consortium won the second fixed-line licence in Qatar on 15 September 2008.
On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile subsidiary OneTouch, was
rebranded as Vodafone Ghana.
U.A.E.
On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner network agreement with Du, the
second-largest operator of the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involved cooperation on international clients, handset procurement, mobile broadband etc.
Libya
On 24 February 2010, the group signed a partner network agreement with the secon
d-largest operator in Libya, al Madar.
The Americas[edit]
United States
In the United States, Vodafone previously owned 45% of Verizon Wireless in a joi
nt venture with Verizon Communications,[dated info] the country's largest mobile
carrier. However the Vodafone branding was not used, as the CDMA network was no
t compatible with the GSM 900/1800 MHz standard used by Vodafone's other network
s and as Vodafone did not have management control over Verizon Wireless, on 2 Se
ptember 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, how
ever, (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 cont
rol of AT&T Wireless (the combined wireless carrier is now AT&T Mobility).
In December 2014, Vodafone announced an agreement with T-Mobile US to launch a M
VNO service using its network, set to launch in 2015.
Chile
On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with the Chilean Entel PCS Chi
le, 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 m
illion people, currently divided among two companies: Telefonica Movistar, and E
ntel PCS.
Brazil
On August 2013, Vodafone has started the MVNO operation in Brazil, as a corporat
ive M2M operator.
Asia-Pacific[edit]
Networks in Asia-Pacific
Majority-owned
Minority-owned

Partner networks

Australia
Fiji
Afghanistan
Armenia
India
Azerbaijan
Sri Lanka
New Zealand
Malaysia
Samoa
Singapore
Thailand
Taiwan Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live, and October 1993 Vodafo
ne Australia's network also went live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafon
e Fiji's network going live. In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New
Zealand, which later became Vodafone New Zealand.
In 1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in response to DoCoM
o's i-Mode service. In December 2002 J-Phone's 3G network went live. On 1 Octobe
r 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 SoftB
ank. In October 2006, SoftBank changed Vodafone Japan's name to 'SoftBank Mobile
'.
On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of the community as M1 was signed as
partner network.
In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy high-speed MPLS backbone n
etwork built by Lucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.[47]
Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone
', after both companies signed a Partner Network Agreement. In August 2005, Voda
fone launched 3G technology in New Zealand, and in October 2005, it began launch
ing 3G technology in Australia. On 28 October 2005, the Company announced the ac
quisition of a 10 per cent stake in India's Bharti Enterprises, which operates t
he largest mobile phone network in India under the brand name airtel. On 22 Dece
mber 2005, the Company announced the completion of the acquisition of the 10% st
ake in Bharti Enterprises of India.
The headquarters of Vodafone New Zealand in Auckland City
In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were added to the Vodafone f
ootprint as Vodafone Group signed a partner network agreement with Telekom Malay
sia. 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 will be receiv
ed in cash on closing of deal. Vodafone Japan later changed its name to SoftBank
Mobile. In November 2010, Vodafone divested its remaining Softbank shares.[48]
On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd largest interne
t service provider, iHug, and on 1 November 2006, Vodafone Australia signed the
Australian Football League (AFL)'s biggest individual club sponsorship deal with
the Brisbane Lions for seasons 2007, 2008 and 2009.
On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with Digicel Caribbean (see below
), Samoa was added as a Partner Market. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company ag
reed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in Hutch Essar for US$11.1 billion
. At the same time, it agreed to sell back 5.6% of its airtel stake back to the
Mittals. Vodafone would retain a 4.4% stake in airtel. On 21 September 2007, Hut
ch was rebranded to Vodafone in India.
On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year partnership agreement wit
h Digicel Group. The agreement, which includes Digicel's sister operation in Sam
oa, will result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two groups will
also become preferred roaming partners of each other. Along with Digicel's mark
ets, the Vodafone brand is now present in 81 countries, regions, and territories
. What is interesting to note, is that as well as being partners, Digicel and Vo
dafone are also rival operators in Fiji, where Digicel Fiji recently launched in

October 2008, and Vodafone owns a minority (49%) stake in Vodafone Fiji.
On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile money tr
ansfer service on Roshan's (Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghani
stan was added to the Vodafone footprint.
On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mo
bile phone retailer Crazy John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operation
s.[49]
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 Vodafon
e brand. dtac in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on 25 Marc
h 2009.
On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA) announced the end of its out
sourcing of retail operations. VHA committed to buying back and managing its ent
ire retail operation, including 208 Vodafone-branded retail outlets Australia-wi
de. This project was slated to be completed by 1 September 2009.
On 31 August 2009, VHA enabled an extended 900 MHz 3G UMTS network which functio
ns outside their 2,100 MHz 3G network, boosting Vodafone's 3G population coverag
e from around 8% to around 94% on dual-band 900/2,100 MHz 3G UMTS devices.
Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a Partner Network on 22 July 2009, while
Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan was signed on 12 November 2009.
In February 2013, Vodafone together with China Mobile, has participated in biddi
ng for one of the two newly opened Myanmar Mobile licences.[50]
In October 2013, it was reported by Reuters that Vodafone planned to invest as m
uch as $2 billion (1.2 billion) to buy out minority shareholders in Vodafone Indi
a.[51]
At the beginning of September 2014, Vinaphone signed a strategic cooperation agr
eement with Vodafone.[52]
Europe[edit]
Networks in Europe
Majority-owned
Partner networks
Albania Austria Belgium
Czech Republic Bulgaria
Channel Islands
Germany Croatia Cyprus
Greece Denmark Estonia
Hungary Finland Faroe Islands
Ireland Iceland Latvia
Italy Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta Macedonia
Norway
Netherlands
Russia Serbia
North Cyprus
Slovenia
Sweden
Portugal
Switzerland
Ukraine
Romania
Spain
Turkey
UK
Vodafone Hungary is a subsidiary of Vodafone Global mobile telephone company ope
rating in Hungary, the company started to operate in 7 July 1999.[53] In Februar
y 2002, Radiolinja of Finland joined as a Partner Network. Radiolinja later chan
ged its named to Elisa. Later that year, the Company rebranded Japan's J-sky mob
ile internet service as Vodafone live!, and on 3 December 2002, the Vodafone bra

nd was introduced in the Estonian market following the signing of a Partner Netw
ork Agreement with Radiolinja (Eesti). Radiolinja (Eesti) later changed its name
to Elisa.
On 7 January 2003, the Company signed a group-wide Partner agreement with mobilk
om Austria. As a result, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia were added to t
he community. In April 2003, Og Vodafone was introduced in the Icelandic market,
and in May 2003, Omnitel (Omnitel Pronto-Italia) was rebranded Vodafone Italy.
On 21 July 2003, Lithuania was added to the community, with the signing of a Par
tner Network agreement with B