Vodafone, the parent company of pan-African operator Vodacom, has partnered with Google to bring cloud services, artificial intelligence (GenAI) and cybersecurity to African and European customers.
Google has announced the extension of its partnership with Vodafone for another ten years, bringing new services, products and TV experiences to Vodafone customers, powered by Google Cloud and Google Gemini AI artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The deal will bring storage, security, cloud and intelligence services to Vodafone customers in 15 countries and partners in 45 markets around the world, while Google will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile services to increase employee productivity.
Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said the ongoing partnership with Vodafone will help bring smart products and services, including the Gemini model, to more people in Europe and Africa.
The companies said they hope to make it easier for consumers to “experience the power of AI” through a range of AI-enabled Google Pixel devices and other smartphones.
Vodafone will also help customers realise the potential of AI by improving online navigation, in-store operations and new agents.
“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,” Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle said.
On the TV side, the two companies are working to enhance Vodafone TV (based on Android TV) by leveraging Google Cloud’s GenAI capabilities to add content discovery features, rewards and offers, and the ability to monetize content messages through Google Ad Manager Good ads.
The team is also exploring better YouTube integration in Vodafone TV setups.
Vodafone aims to leverage its Google Cloud security platform to deliver advanced cybersecurity to its business customers by developing a cloud-native cybersecurity solution in the near future. It will provide the latest security software as well as security and incident management.
Vodafone owns 65.1 per cent of South Africa-based Vodacom, which operates in Africa in Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Tanzania.
Vodacom also has a stake in Safaricom, which operates in Kenya and Ethiopia.
In April 2020, Vodacom took control of Vodafone Ghana. However, the assets were not transferred and Vodafone sold its 70 per cent stake .
Last month, Vodacom South Africa launched a cloud service designed to reduce the cost of smartphone usage in the country and enable customers to switch from old phones to 4G phones for their daily work.
