52 Facts About Vodafone Group

Vodafone Group Plc is a British multinational telecommunications company.

Vodafone Group has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Name Vodafone Group comes from VOice DAta FONE, chosen by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones".

In July 1996, Vodafone Group acquired the two-thirds of Talkland it did not already own for £30.

On 29 June 1999, Vodafone Group completed its purchase of American service provider AirTouch Communications, Inc and changed its name to Vodafone Group Airtouch plc.

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On 21 September 1999, Vodafone Group agreed to merge its US wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form Verizon Wireless.

In November 1999, Vodafone Group made an unsolicited bid for Mannesmann, which was rejected.

The EU approved the merger in April 2000 after Vodafone Group agreed to divest the 'Orange' brand, which was acquired in May 2000 by France Telecom.

On 17 December 2001, Vodafone Group introduced the concept of "Partner Networks", by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark.

In 2007, Vodafone Group entered into a title sponsorship deal with the McLaren Formula One team, which traded as "Vodafone Group McLaren Mercedes" until the sponsorship ended at the end of the 2013 season.

In January 2020, Vodafone Group confirmed that it has pulled out of Diem Association, the governing council for the Facebook-created global digital currency initiative.

On 29 January 2020, Saudi Telecom Company and the Vodafone Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the sale of Vodafone's entire 55 percent stake in Vodafone Egypt to STC.

Meanwhile, Vodafone Group has agreed to make Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa investment vehicle, as well as continuing to maintain the visibility of the Vodacom brand.

On 23 September 2016, Vodafone Group extended its activities to Cameroon by signing a partnership with Afrimax, a 4G-LTE telecommunications operator in Africa.

Vodafone Group Cameroon Launched a "Youth Program" in the Universities to support and encourage the Cameroonian students.

On 29 December 2003, Vodafone signed a Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC group.

In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar under the name "Vodafone Qatar".

In February 2018 Vodafone Group Europe agreed to sell their stake in the Qatar joint venture.

In January 2021, Vodafone Group obtained a license to establish and operate public telecommunications services in Oman.

Vodafone Group will be the third operator in the Sultanate of Oman.

On 2 September 2013 Vodafone Group announced the sale of its stake to Verizon Communications for around $130 billion.

On 17 March 2006, Vodafone Group announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone Group Japan to SoftBank for £8.

The deal would enable Vodafone to move its Indian subsidiary off its balance sheet, cutting the British group's net debt by the equivalent of almost $8.

On 31 August 2018, Vodafone Group Idea became a legal entity and the largest telecom service provider in India.

On 7 September 2020, Vodafone Group Idea unveiled its new brand identity, 'Vi' which involves the integration of the company's erstwhile separate brands 'Vodafone Group' and 'Idea' into one unified brand.

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In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were added to the Vodafone footprint as Vodafone Group signed a partner network agreement with Telekom Malaysia.

On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year partnership agreement with Digicel Group.

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone Group announced the launching of M-Paisa mobile money transfer service on Roshan's network: Afghanistan was added to the Vodafone Group footprint.

Vodafone Group instead entered into an agreement with Hutchison Telecom, who operate the 3 brand.

Vodafone Group Hungary was formed as a subsidiary company in July 1999.

Later in December 2002, the Vodafone Group brand was introduced in the Estonian market following the signing of a Partner Network Agreement with the Estonian subsidiary of Radiolinja.

In February 2004, Vodafone Group signed Partner Network Agreements with Luxembourg's LuxGSM, and with Cyta of Cyprus.

In December 2005, Vodafone Group won an auction to buy Turkey's second-largest mobile phone company, Telsim, for US$4.

On 1 May 2007, Vodafone Group added Jersey and Guernsey to the community, as Airtel was signed as Partner Network in both crown dependencies.

Vodafone Group UK was ranked 13th, whilst Spain was listed in 16th place.

On 17 April 2008, Vodafone Group extended its footprint to Serbia as Vip mobile was added to the community as a Partner Network, and on 20 May 2008, the Company added VIP Operator as a Partner Network, thereby extending the global footprint to the North Macedonia.

In March 2013, the Spanish operations of Vodafone signed an agreement with Orange S A to co-invest €1 billion in the expansion of Spain's fibre-optic cable broadband network, which would enable Vodafone to reach an additional 6 million customers in Spain by 2017.

On 24 June 2013, Vodafone Group announced it would be buying German cable company Kabel Deutschland.

In February 2014, Vodafone Group made an offer to acquire Spain's largest cable operator, ONO, for total consideration, including associated net debt acquired, of €7.

In October 2015, Russia's Mobile TeleSystems and Vodafone Group expanded their 2008 strategic partnership; this resulted in the rebranding of MTS Ukraine to Vodafone Group Ukraine.

In 2019, Vodafone Group created a legally separate organisation comprising its European mobile towers.

In December 2004, Vodafone Group Australia agreed to deploy high-speed MPLS backbone network built by Lucent Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone Group purchased Australia's largest bricks and mortar mobile phone retailer Crazy John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.

Under the terms of the deal, Vodafone Group Fiji retained its branding under a Partner Market Agreement.

In November 1998, Vodafone Group purchased BellSouth New Zealand, which later became Vodafone Group New Zealand.

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In October 2013, Vodafone Group began its rollout of 4G to provincial New Zealand, with the launch of the system in holiday hotspots around Coromandel.

In November 2009, Vodafone Group announced the creation of a new business unit focused on the emerging market .

Vodafone Group Foundation is a recognised charity which supports and initiates projects which use mobile technology to benefit the vulnerable, using the slogan "Connecting for Good".

In September 2020, an international arbitration tribunal sided with Vodafone Group and ruled that India's efforts to claim past taxes was in violation of fair treatment under the bilateral investment protection pact between India and the Netherland.

Vodafone Group was implicated in the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in Egypt's 2011 demonstrations.

On 28 January 2011, Vodafone Group complied with Egyptian government instructions to suspend Internet service "in selected areas" during a period of anti-Mubarak protests.

Vodafone Group later issued a statement asserting that they had no choice but to allow the messages to be broadcast, and that they had complained to the Egyptian authorities about the practice.