• Vodafone has been working closely with Google on its data and analytics strategy and processes for more than three years
• Now the telco is dramatically expanding and extending the relationship with AI, using it as the bedrock of a new 10-year, $1bn-plus deal
• The deal is great one for Google too as it expands the big tech firms’ exposure to Vodafone Group’s 330 million customers and the telco’s mobile operator partners in 45 countries
• It also makes Vodafone the preferred provider of mobile and broadband services to Google

Vodafone Group has accelerated its transition from communications service provider (CSP) to digital service provider (DSP), and given the giant network operator a strong bond with one of the world’s leading AI companies, by striking a 10-year partnership deal that encompasses cloud, cybersecurity, AI-enabled devices and more across its European and African footprint. 

The new deal builds on an agreement made in May 2021 when Vodafone Group and Google Cloud unveiled a six-year strategic partnership to jointly build an  integrated data platform, dubbed Nucleus, and an analytics and data sharing system called Dynamo that has been designed to enable the telco to more quickly develop and effectively market new products and services. That deal was enhanced in July 2022 with the unveiling of AI Booster, a unified machine learning (ML) system  – see Vodafone builds on its Google Cloud relationship with AI Booster.

The new agreement, which is much deeper, broader and is set to last for at least 10 years, makes Vodafone the preferred provider of mobile and broadband services to Google’s workforce and, according to the telco, is worth $1bn-plus. And it doesn’t just cover Vodafone’s 330 million-plus customer base across 15 markets in Europe and Africa (via Vodacom), it also extends to the telco’s partner operations in a further 45 international markets.

Vodafone lays out the breadth of the agreement clearly in its announcement about the partnership, so to get the details check out the full announcement, but it’s worth noting that it covers the promotion of AI-enhanced smartphones to Vodafone’s customer base, the development of AI-enabled mobile, broadband and TV/video services (including smarter content discovery and monetisation options, such as targeted advertising), the development of a cloud-native cybersecurity solution for enterprise customers, using Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform, and the deployment of Google’s generative AI (GenAI) applications to automate and streamline the telco’s back-office operations.  

And what’s very noticeable is just how much more expansive this partnership is in terms of the services and technologies it encompasses. Telcos have been striking deals with hyperscaler partners for years, but in 2024 Vodafone has been taking such relationships to new levels. For example, it brokered a similarly long, broader and symbiotic relationship with Microsoft earlier this year – see Vodafone makes its digital services, GenAI bed with Microsoft. 

“Together, Vodafone and Google will put new AI-powered content and devices into the hands of millions of more consumers,” stated Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle. “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 added. 

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, added: “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. 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 added. 

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV