The agreement covers consumer and enterprise, cloud, cybersecurity, TV and devices across Europe and Africa, plus up to 45 more markets via the operator’s partners
Vodafone Group and Google have signed a 10-year strategic partnership, worth “multi-billions” of dollars. It is a far-reaching agreement with many facets.
Regarding devices, they will offer the operators’ customers units powered by GenAI that use Google’s Gemini models in 15 countries across Africa and Europe.
Also, Vodafone is to “expand access” to Google’s AI-powered Pixel devices on its 5G network in Europe and promote the Android ecosystem. The two will work together to improve and expand the range of products and services available in stores and online, supported by “a refreshed customer experience rooted in the benefits of AI”.
They are apparently working towards enabling the operator to offer YouTube subscription-based products and Google One subscription plans, such as storage and AI Premium plans to consumers, plus a range of Pixel and other Android devices. Specifically, Vodafone intends to offer Google One AI Premium subscription plans, including Gemini Advanced, in select territories by 2025.
Not as previously seen on TV
They also plan to make Vodafone TV “even more personalised and engaging”, with better content search and recommendations and rewards using Google Cloud’s GenAI across its set top boxes.
This is with a view to rolling out advertising using Google Ad Manager in the future, “to deliver a better ads experience” to monetise content. Some might describe that as an oxymoron. Vodafone TV is powered by Android TV. The teams are also exploring “a more deeply-integrated YouTube experience across Vodafone TV devices”.
Selling futures
Vodafone’s relationship with Google Cloud so far has been to use it as a private data repository or lake, and compute function. In future it will use Google Cloud’s Vertex AI “enterprise-ready” platform.
The operator will use the platform “to build, deploy, and scale machine learning models and AI applications powered by Google’s Gemini models. This will help increase the speed and ease with which Vodafone’s operating companies in multiple countries can innovate and launch new products.”
It will provide security incident and event management, as well as the latest software-based protection tools. Vodafone will also use Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform when developing certain products and services to further ensure that they are secure by design to help keep customers safe online.
The operator intends to develop a new cloud-native security service for its business customers using Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform.
For its part, Google is to use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services “to improve workforce productivity”.
Unprecedented scale
The companies seek to reassure, promising to “to jointly promote the use of universal industry standards in areas such as online safety, responsible AI development, network performance, and interoperability to drive economies of scale in industrial efficiency, boost innovation, and improve public services at scale”.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group’s CEO (pictured above), said, “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.”
“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,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet (pictured above right). “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.”