Vodafone and Google have today announced a ten-year billion-dollar strategic expansion of their existing partnership to bring new services, devices, and TV experiences to millions of Vodafone’s customers.
This is across Europe and Africa, supported by Google Cloud and Google’s Gemini models.
According to a press statement by the tech giant, 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.
On the other hand, Google will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services to improve workforce productivity.
Speaking on the partnership, Vodafone Group chief executive Margherita Della Valle said the collaboration seeks to 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,” she said.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai further noted that the expanded partnership with Vodafone will help bring the tech giant’s most advanced AI products and services, including Gemini models, to more people across Europe and Africa.
“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,” he said.
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 monetization 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 also plan to enhance their existing cloud partnership.
Google is already the public cloud provider for all of 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.
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