- Vodafone and Google struck a new 10-year deal worth over $1 billion
- Plans call for expanding availability of Pixel devices with GenAI features
- This move comes months after Vodafone signed a 10-year partnership with Microsoft
Vodafone, a major proponent of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technologies to support operational and service improvements, has just signed a new deal with Google that it clearly hopes will enable it to stand out from the crowd.
The U.K.-based operator and Google on Tuesday said they had deepened their existing strategic partnership with a 10-year, billion-dollar-plus deal to bring the tech giant’s GenAI-powered devices to more Vodafone customers across Europe and Africa, supported by Google Cloud and Google’s Gemini (formerly Bard) models.
In a nutshell, Vodafone said it will expand access to AI-supported Pixel devices and continue promoting the Android ecosystem; deploy Google Cloud’s GenAI tech on Vodafone TV set-top boxes; offer Google One AI Premium subscription plans, including Gemini Advanced, in select territories by 2025; expand its partnership with Google Cloud; and develop a new cloud-native security service for its business customers.
The partners said the agreement will “bring storage, security, and AI assistance to Vodafone’s customers in 15 countries, as well as its partners in an additional 45 markets worldwide.” In turn, Google said it will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services “to improve workforce productivity.”
Win, win in GenAI
According to Paolo Pescatore, founder and analyst at PP Foresight, the deal is a “massive win for Google in this arms race to be the undisputed leader in AI across the board.”
For Vodafone, he sees the move as a “key phase of its long-term growth strategy” and said the operator has “entrusted Google to help achieve this objective at a time when all telcos are seeing margins being squeezed.”
The move comes as Vodafone chief executive Margherita Della Valle continues her efforts to transform the group and return to profit growth.
“Together, Vodafone and Google will put new AI-powered content and devices into the hands of millions of more consumers. 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,” Della Valle said.
Pescatore noted that while Vodafone has done a “stellar job” of improving services for enterprises, it still has “some way to improve experiences for consumers.”
“Naturally, Vodafone should not rely solely on one partner and should seek to broaden its collaborative approach with other online giants,” Pescatore added.
Kester Mann, an analyst with CCS Insight, said it will be interesting to see how the Google partnership aligns with Vodafone’s existing tie up with Microsoft, which is also a 10-year deal signed earlier this year. “The latter leans heavily on AI and has already supported major upgrades to Vodafone’s TOBi chatbot,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mann observed that the “huge breadth” of the Google deal shows how telecom operators are increasingly reliant on partnering with large technology companies to support customers, bring to market new services, and differentiate from rivals.
“For consumers, Vodafone will hope that the Google services offered pique some much-needed interest amid an ongoing industry battle to stand out and grow revenue. Careful positioning of YouTube and Google One could help drive sales of premium plans,” he said.
He added that offering a broader range of Pixel devices “is a positive step for the struggling smartphone market, which has long suffered from a lack of alternatives beyond Apple and Samsung in many markets. In the U.K., according to CCS Insight’s consumer research, around 80% of people own a smartphone from one of these two manufacturers.”
Vodafone and Google Cloud have previously worked together to create a data repository, known as a data lake, which houses Vodafone’s data and its existing AI and data analytics services.
Under the expanded partnership, Vodafone will also use Vertex AI, Google Cloud’s enterprise AI platform, to build, deploy, and scale machine learning models and AI applications supported by Google’s Gemini models.
Vodafone further added that it aims to offer its business customers enhanced cyber protection with its own soon-to-be-developed cloud-native cybersecurity solution, using Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform.