Vodafone Group Public Ltd Co 6-K, filed Jan 16, 2024
Vodafone Group Public Ltd Co (VOD)
6-K
2024-01-16
For: 2024-01-16
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April 11, 2026
About this 6-K
Vodafone Group Public Ltd Co filed this 6-K on January 16, 2024.
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER
PURSUANT TO RULES 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Dated
January 16, 2024
Commission
File Number: 001-10086
VODAFONE GROUP
PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY
(Translation
of registrant’s name into English)
VODAFONE
HOUSE, THE CONNECTION, NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE, RG14 2FN,
ENGLAND
(Address
of principal executive offices)
Indicate
by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual
reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.
Form
20-F ✓
Form 40-F _
This
Report on Form 6-K contains a Stock Exchange Announcement dated 16
January 2024 entitled ‘Vodafone and Microsoft
Partnership’.
16 January 2024
Vodafone and Microsoft sign 10-year strategic partnership to bring
generative AI, digital services and the cloud to more than 300
million businesses and consumers
●
Vodafone
and Microsoft to transform the customer experience using
Microsoft's generative AI.
●
Vodafone
to scale its new standalone IoT business with
Microsoft.
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Partnership
will expand M-Pesa to improve financial inclusion across
Africa.
●
Vodafone
to grow enterprise business with new Microsoft services for small
and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
●
Vodafone
to accelerate digital transformation and operational efficiencies
in virtual data centre migration to Microsoft Azure.
LONDON and REDMOND, Wash. - Jan. 16, 2024 - Vodafone
and Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a new, far-reaching
10-year strategic partnership that leverages their respective
strengths in offering scaled digital platforms to more than 300
million businesses, public sector organisations, and consumers
across Europe and Africa.
Through the partnership, the companies will collaborate to
transform Vodafone's customer experience using Microsoft's
generative AI, hyperscale Vodafone's leading managed IoT
connectivity platform, develop new digital and financial services
for businesses, particularly SMEs across Europe and Africa, and
overhaul its global data centre cloud strategy.
Vodafone will invest $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in cloud
and customer-focused AI services developed in conjunction with
Microsoft. Additionally, Microsoft will use Vodafone's fixed and
mobile connectivity services.
Microsoft also intends to invest in Vodafone's managed IoT
connectivity platform, which will become a separate, standalone
business by April 2024. The new company will attract new partners
and customers, driving growth in applications and expanding the
platform to connect more devices, vehicles, and
machines.
The digital services generated by the new partnership will use the
latest generative AI technology to provide a highly personalised
and differentiated customer experience across multiple channels.
They will be built on unbiased and ethical privacy and security
policies under Vodafone's established framework for responsible
AI.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group chief executive, said:
"Today, Vodafone has made a bold commitment to the digital future
of Europe and Africa. This unique strategic partnership with
Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our
business customers, particularly small and medium-sized companies,
and step up the quality of customer experience for
consumers."
"This new generation of AI will unlock massive new opportunities
for every organisation and every industry around the world," said
Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "We are delighted that
together with Vodafone we will apply the latest cloud and AI
technology to enhance the customer experience of hundreds of
millions of people and businesses across Africa and Europe, build
new products and services, and accelerate the company's transition
to the cloud."
The companies have identified five key areas of
collaboration:
●
Generative
AI: To increase customer satisfaction, the companies
will apply the power of Microsoft Azure OpenAI to deliver
frictionless, real-time, proactive, and hyper-personalised
experiences across all Vodafone customer touchpoints, including its
digital assistant TOBi (available in 13 countries). Vodafone
employees will also be able to leverage the AI capabilities of
Microsoft Copilot to transform working practices, boost
productivity and improve digital efficiency.
●
Scaling
IoT: Microsoft intends to invest in Vodafone's new,
standalone global Internet of Things (IoT)-managed connectivity
platform, which connects 175 million devices and platforms
worldwide. Vodafone also plans to become
part of the Azure ecosystem making the IoT platform available to a
vast developer and third-party community using open
APIs.
●
Africa digital
acceleration: Microsoft intends
to help further
scale M-Pesa, already the
largest financial technology platform in Africa, by housing it on
Azure and enabling the launch of new cloud-native applications. The
companies are also launching a purpose-led program that seeks to
enrich the lives of 100 million consumers
and 1 million SMEs across the African continent. The goal is to
enhance digital literacy, skilling and youth outreach programs, as
well as offer digital services to the underserved SME market. The
partnership aims to boost financial services innovation, building a
community of certified developers.
●
Enterprise
growth: Vodafone
will extend its commitment to distributing Microsoft services,
including Microsoft Azure, security solutions and modern work
offerings such as Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile, as part of its
strategy to become Europe's leading platform for business. This
enables business customers to deploy Microsoft's cloud-based
services at pace with low adoption and running costs, as well as
support the estimated 24 million SMEs across Europe through the
provision of a managed platform that grows with their
business.
●
Cloud
transformation: Vodafone
will accelerate its cloud transformation
by modernising its data
centres on Microsoft
Azure. This will improve its responsiveness to customers,
while simplifying and reducing the operational costs of
its IT estate. As a result, Vodafone will be able to replace
multiple physical data centres with virtual ones across Europe,
simplifying and reducing the operational costs of its IT estate, as
well as reducing energy requirements and helping deliver against
its sustainable business strategy.
About Vodafone
For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com,
follow us on Twitter at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on
LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone .
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation
for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its
mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the
planet to achieve more.
For more information, press only:
Microsoft Media Relations, WE Communications for
Microsoft,
(425) 638-7777,
rapidresponse@we-worldwide.com
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Investor Relations
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Media Relations
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Investors.vodafone.com
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Vodafone.com/media/contact
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ir@vodafone.co.uk
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GroupMedia@vodafone.com
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Registered Office: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury,
Berkshire RG14 2FN, England. Registered in England No.
1833679
Note to editors: For
more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please
visit the Microsoft News Centre at http://news.microsoft.com.
Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of
publication but may have changed. For additional assistance,
journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response
Team or other appropriate contacts listed at https://news.microsoft.com/microsoft-public-relations-contacts.
Forward-looking statements
The
information in this announcement (the "Information") may constitute
or include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
include, without limitation, statements that typically contain
words such as "estimate", "intend", "plan", "goal", "aim", "will",
or other words of similar meaning. By their nature, forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to
events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the
future. Vodafone cautions you that forward-looking statements are
not guarantees of the occurrence of such future events or of future
performance and that in particular, the development of the
strategic partnership between Vodafone and Microsoft and its
outcome or impact on Vodafone, its business, results of operations
and financial condition may differ materially from what is
suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in the
Information. These expectations or any forward-looking statements
could prove to be incorrect, and outcomes usually cannot be
influenced by Vodafone. It should be kept in mind that actual
events or consequences may differ materially from
expectations.
Vodafone
expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any
updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect
any change in Vodafone's expectations with regard thereto or any
changes in events, conditions or circumstances on which any
forward-looking statements are based. No representation or warranty
is made that any of these forward-looking statements will come to
pass or that any particular result will be achieved. Undue
influence should not be given to, and no reliance should be placed
on, any forward-looking statement.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant
to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorised.
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VODAFONE
GROUP
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PUBLIC
LIMITED COMPANY
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(Registrant)
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Date:
January 16, 2024
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By: /s/ M D B
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Name: Maaike de Bie
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Title: Group General Counsel and Company Secretary
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