Vodafone and Google have announced that they will be partnering to bring new services, devices, and TV experiences to Vodafone’s customers across Europe and Africa, with support from Google Cloud and Google’s Gemini models.
According to the firms, the agreement will provide storage, security, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistance to Vodafone’s customers in 15 countries and its partners in an additional 45 markets worldwide. Google will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services to improve workforce productivity.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group chief executive officer, 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.”
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A key focus of the Vodafone and Google partnership is to help consumers take advantage of the latest hardware and digital technologies, including AI and cloud-based applications.
“Vodafone and Google 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 noted.
The firms added that they are also working towards enabling Vodafone to offer YouTube subscription-based products and Google One subscription plans, such as storage plans and AI premium plans, to consumers, in addition to offering a range of Pixel and other Android devices.
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, noted, “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.”
Vodafone and Google will work towards enhancing Vodafone TV (which is powered by Android TV), using Google Cloud’s advanced Gen AI capabilities to provide additional content discovery features, rewards, and offers, as well as content monetisation with Google Ad Manager to deliver better ads experience. The teams are also exploring a more deeply integrated YouTube experience across Vodafone TV devices.
With this partnership, Vodafone will use Vertex AI, Google Cloud’s enterprise-ready AI 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.
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With Google’s help, Vodafone will also begin to offer enhanced cyber protection.
“Through this partnership, Vodafone aims to offer its business customers enhanced cyber protection with its own soon-to-be-developed cloud-native cybersecurity solution, utilising Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform. 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 firm noted.
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