REG - Vodafone Group Plc - Vodafone & Google Deepen Strategic Partnership

VodafoneAnnouncement

08/10/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 2409H  Vodafone Group Plc  08 October 2024

08 OCTOBER 2024

 Vodafone and Google Deepen Strategic Partnership with Ten Year, Billion+
 Dollar Deal including Cloud, Cybersecurity and Devices Across Europe and
 Africa

 Partnership aims to bring new generative AI (gen AI) powered devices through
 Google's Gemini models to millions of Vodafone's customers across Europe and
 Africa

·    Vodafone will expand access to Google's AI-powered Pixel devices with
its fast 5G network in Europe, and continue promoting the Android ecosystem.

·    Vodafone TV aims to become even more personalised and engaging, with
improved content search and recommendations using Google Cloud's gen AI across
its set top boxes, with a view to rolling out advertising using Google Ad
Manager in the future.

·    Companies intend to enable Vodafone to offer Google One AI Premium
subscription plans, which include Gemini Advanced, in select territories by
2025.

·    Vodafone to expand its partnership with Google Cloud, building on its
existing private data repository, and will use Google Cloud's Vertex AI
enterprise-ready AI platform to quickly bring new services and innovation to
Vodafone's customers.

·    Vodafone will develop a new cloud-native security service for its
business customers leveraging Google Cloud's Security Operations platform.

Vodafone and Google today announced a ten year strategic expansion of their
existing partnership to bring new services, devices, and TV experiences to
millions of Vodafone's customers across Europe and Africa, supported by Google
Cloud and Google's Gemini models.

The agreement will bring storage, security, and AI assistance to Vodafone's
customers in 15 countries, as well as its partners in an additional 45 markets
worldwide, while Google will use Vodafone's fixed and mobile connectivity
services to improve workforce productivity.

Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group chief executive, said: "Together,
Vodafone and Google will put new AI-powered content and devices into the hands
of millions of more consumers. Using these services, our customers can
discover new ways to learn, create and communicate, as well as consume TV, on
a scale we haven't seen before."

"Our expanded partnership with Vodafone will help bring our most advanced AI
products and services, including our Gemini models, to more people across
Europe and Africa," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.

"I'm excited to see how Vodafone's consumers, small businesses and
governments, will use generative AI and Google Cloud to transform the way they
work and access information."

Leading the Way in Enhanced Consumer Experiences

A key focus of the Vodafone and Google partnership is to help consumers take
advantage of the latest hardware and digital technologies, including AI and
cloud-based applications. Vodafone and Google will work together to improve
and expand the range of products and services available in stores and online,
supported with a refreshed customer experience rooted in the benefits of AI.
Google and Vodafone are working towards enabling Vodafone to offer YouTube
subscription-based products and Google One subscription plans, such as storage
plans and AI Premium plans to consumers, in addition to offering a range of
Pixel and other Android devices.

Vodafone and Google will work towards enhancing Vodafone TV (which is powered
by Android TV), using Google Cloud's advanced gen AI capabilities to provide
additional content discovery features, rewards, and offers, as well as content
monetization with Google Ad Manager to deliver a better ads experience. The
teams are also exploring a more deeply-integrated YouTube experience across
Vodafone TV devices.

Digital Transformation & Security: Powered by Google Cloud's gen AI

Vodafone and Google Cloud already have a strong track record of collaboration.
The companies have worked together to create a data repository (data lake)
that houses Vodafone's data and its existing AI and data analytics services on
Google Cloud to ensure maximum security and adherence to legal requirements.
With the expanded partnership, Vodafone will use Vertex AI, Google Cloud's
enterprise-ready AI platform, to build, deploy, and scale machine learning
models and AI applications powered by Google's Gemini models. This will help
increase the speed and ease with which Vodafone's operating companies in
multiple countries can innovate and launch new products.

Through this partnership, Vodafone aims to offer its business customers
enhanced cyber protection with its own soon-to-be-developed cloud-native
cybersecurity solution, utilising Google Cloud's Security Operations platform.
It will provide security incident and event management, as well as the latest
software-based protection tools. Vodafone will also use Google Cloud's
Security Operations platform when developing certain products and services to
further ensure that they are secure by design to help keep customers safe
online.

Both companies intend to jointly promote the use of universal industry
standards in areas such as online safety, responsible AI development, network
performance, and interoperability to drive economies of scale in industrial
efficiency, boost innovation, and improve public services at scale. Through
this partnership, Vodafone will put AI-powered cloud, content, and
connectivity into the hands of more people.

- ends -

Notes

The key benefits of the Vodafone and Google partnership include:

Leading the Way in Enhanced Consumer Experiences

·    Empowering consumers with AI: Vodafone intends to make it easier for
consumers to experience the power of AI through a wider range of AI-powered
Google Pixel devices and other Android phones coupled with its fast 5G
pan-European network. Vodafone will also help customers learn about AI
features with improved online guides, dedicated in-store experiences, and
freshly trained staff.

·    Offering a best-in-class TV platform: Vodafone and Google will work
towards Vodafone TV customers enjoying AI-generated search and recommendations
for personalised TV content, applications, and rewards. This expands on the
news in 2023 that Vodafone's adoption of Android TV became the preferred
platform for Vodafone TV, now live in seven countries. This collaboration also
empowers Vodafone to optimise its infrastructure using Google Cloud's gen AI
capabilities, and unlock new opportunities in advertising and market
expansion. Google Ad Manager is intended to act as the main platform for the
monetisation of Vodafone's addressable TV inventories, providing a better ads
experience for users.

·    Extending the reach of cloud and AI to consumers: Google and Vodafone
aim to offer Vodafone's consumers a range of services built using advanced
cloud-based AI. This may include storage for photos, video and files using
Google One, and Google One AI Premium with Gemini Advanced for those who want
the extra power of Google's most capable AI models. The parties are also
working to expand the availability of subscription-based YouTube services to
Vodafone customers. All such services will be supported by Vodafone's
extensive fixed and mobile networks in the relevant territory.

Digital Transformation & Security: Powered by Google Cloud's generative AI

·    Expanding business services powered by Google Cloud: Google and
Vodafone will enhance their existing cloud partnership. Google is already the
public cloud provider for all Vodafone's analytics, including anonymised and
aggregated big data, business intelligence, marketing, and network analytics.
Vodafone will use Vertex AI, Google Cloud's enterprise-ready AI platform, to
build, deploy, and scale machine learning models and AI applications powered
by Google's Gemini models, 1.5 Pro and Flash. Vodafone will bolster its
commitment to distributing and building upon Google Cloud-based services,
including cybersecurity, data analytics and AI.

·    Enhancing security and threat detection: Vodafone will build a new
cloud-native cybersecurity offering for its business customers utilising
Google Cloud's Security Operations platform so they can better protect
themselves and respond in real time to cybersecurity threats. In addition,
Vodafone will draw on the strengths of its own in-house team of 900
cybersecurity experts, along with Google Cloud's Security Operations platform,
to further secure Vodafone's operations at scale from external threats.

·    Transforming the back office with gen AI: Google and Vodafone experts
will build products and scale priority use-cases for digital, IT, and network
teams to help automate fault detection, streamline back-office operations and
more. Google will also create a gen AI training programme for Vodafone
employees to help them enhance their own digital credentials and operational
efficiencies by using scaled AI applications internally, and with partners.

 For more information, please contact:
 Investor Relations:  i (https://investors.vodafone.com) nvestors.vodafone.com  ir@vodafone.co.uk (mailto:ir@vodafone.co.uk)  Media Relations:  Vodafone.com/media/contact (https://Vodafone.com/media/contact)  GroupMedia@vodafone.com (mailto:GroupMedia@vodafone.com)
                      (https://investors.vodafone.com)
 Registered Office: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire RG14
 2FN, England. Registered in England No. 1833679

About Vodafone

Vodafone is a leading European and African telecoms company. We provide mobile
and fixed services to over 330 million customers in 15 countries (excludes
Italy which is held as a discontinued operation under Vodafone Group), partner
with mobile networks in 45 more and have one of the world's largest IoT
platforms. In Africa, our financial technology businesses serve almost 79
million customers across seven countries - managing more transactions than any
other provider.

Our purpose is to connect for a better future by using technology to improve
lives, businesses and help progress inclusive sustainable societies. We are
committed to reducing our environmental impact to reach net zero emissions by
2040.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com (http://www.vodafone.com)
follow us on X at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at
www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone/mycompany/verification/)

About Google

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it
universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search,
Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome and YouTube, Google
plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has
become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a
subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

 

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