51 Facts About Vodafone

Vodafone Group Plc is a British multinational telecommunications company.

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

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

Vodafone was launched on 1 January 1985 under the new name of Racal-Vodafone Ltd, with its first office based in the Courtyard in Newbury, Berkshire, and shortly thereafter Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal Telecommunications Group Limited.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, Vodafone 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 extended its activities to Cameroon by signing a partnership with Afrimax, a 4G-LTE telecommunications operator in Africa.

Vodafone 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 Europe agreed to sell their stake in the Qatar joint venture.

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

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

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

On 17 March 2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell all its interest in Vodafone 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 Idea became a legal entity and the largest telecom service provider in India.

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

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

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

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

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

Later in December 2002, the Vodafone 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 signed Partner Network Agreements with Luxembourg's LuxGSM, and with Cyta of Cyprus.

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

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

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

On 17 April 2008, Vodafone 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 announced it would be buying German cable company Kabel Deutschland.

In February 2014, Vodafone 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 expanded their 2008 strategic partnership; this resulted in the rebranding of MTS Ukraine to Vodafone Ukraine.

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

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

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone 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 Fiji retained its branding under a Partner Market Agreement.

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

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

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

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

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

Vodafone 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.