Is Vodafone’s Billion-pound Bet on Google AI a Masterstroke or a Risky Gamble?

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UK (Commonwealth) _ With a ten-year, billion-dollar arrangement, Vodafone, a British multinational telecommunications business announced yesterday that it has strengthened its strategic cooperation with Alphabet’s Google. This agreement will enable the US tech giant to provide its new generative AI-powered gadgets to clients in Europe and Africa.


Vodafone announced that it will continue to support the Android ecosystem and increase access to Google’s AI-powered Pixel smartphones across Europe via its 5G network.

Global tech giants like Apple, Google, and Samsung are vying for consumers’ business by introducing new generative AI features into their phones. These businesses provide a range of AI-powered visual, text, and audio functions.

By 2025, Vodafone will provide Gemini Advanced and other Google One AI Premium subscription tiers in a few regions. As part of the expanded agreement, Vodafone will also make use of Google Cloud’s enterprise-ready AI platform.

Google is in an AI battle with businesses such as OpenAI, which is funded by the likes of Microsoft and Nvidia. In an effort to provide clients with a more comprehensive AI and cloud service, Vodafone and Google inked a billion-pound contract.

The 10-year partnership was announced by the British telecom giant. As part of the partnership, Google Cloud’s generation AI will be used on its TV set top boxes, and machine learning models and AI apps powered by Google’s Gemini models will be developed using Google Cloud’s Vertex platform.

The agreement also calls for the creation of a brand-new cloud-native cybersecurity service that will make use of Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform and provide users with Google cloud storage choices. With the acquisition, Vodafone and Google’s collaboration is strengthened. Google already offers analytics and marketing services, and its Android operating system powers the company’s set-top boxes. It comes after a $1.5 billion agreement that Vodafone and Microsoft struck earlier this year, whereby Vodafone gave up ownership of its own data centers in Europe in favor of adopting Azure cloud services.

The CEO of Vodafone Group, Margherita Della Valle, stated: “Together, Vodafone and Google will enable millions more consumers to access new AI-powered content and devices.” Using these services, our consumers may discover new ways to study, create and interact, and also consume TV, on a scale we hadn’t encountered before.”

According to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, the company’s extended cooperation with Vodafone will help make the most cutting-edge AI goods and services—including our Gemini models—available to more individuals in Europe and Africa.

The agreement was reached in response to the UK competition regulator’s statement that it had reservations about the proposed merger between Vodafone and rival Three.

The Competition and Markets Authority stated that it has tentatively come to the conclusion that the merger will result in price rises for tens of millions of mobile consumers or lower service, such as contracts with smaller data packages.

The CMA expressed particular concern that customers who are least able to purchase mobile services and those who may have to pay more for network quality enhancements they do not value will be adversely affected by higher bills or fewer services.

Vodafone and Three said in a statement that they disagreed with the CMA’s assessments and that the partnership will “fix the country’s dysfunctional mobile market.” Citing a recent EU report on competitiveness, Vodafone CEO Margherita Della Valle suggested that merger remedies should be on investment commitment, “which matches exactly what the focus of this merger is.”

“Europe and the UK need to act immediately to prevent slipping farther behind other European countries, as updating networks is not a short solution.

“The world is changing and it takes years to rise in the rankings, especially with the introduction of AI-powered technologies.” Everyone is acutely aware of the necessity to have robust networks with good speeds and low latency to benefit from technology advancements.”

Vodafone Group Plc is a British worldwide telecommunications business. Newbury, Berkshire, England serves as both the company’s global headquarters and registered office. It primarily provides services across Oceania, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Vodafone owns and runs networks in 16 countries as of June 2024, and it has partnerships with networks in 44 more. Its Vodafone Global Enterprise segment offers business clients in 150 countries IT and telecom services.

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