It has been a busy couple of weeks for mobile giant Vodafone as it does two deals to secure hardware and industrial partnerships. It also steps back into broadband and fixed line communications with new product offering. Both moves widen the product portfolio and reach of the company.
First, Vodafone signed a partnership deal with Chinese hardware manufacturer Huawei. This will see the two companies combine forces to deliver a new range of global communication and technology services for enterprise. It will use Huawei’s fixed and mobile bonding technology to develop a range of new products including M2M (Machine to Machine) and IoT (Internet of Things).
The second deal involves Vodafone and big data company VMC. This will deliver an enterprise platform designed to serve the IoT. Codenamed INFINITE, the new platform is being developed to “introduce major advancements in cloud, networks and mobile”.
Both of these deals could complement each other and provide the means to deliver a global force in the Internet of Things.
Vodafone Connect
Vodafone Connect is the new venture into broadband and fixed line telephony announced last week. In an attempt to broaden the internet market in the UK, Vodafone will be going up against the established players by offering fibre, ADSL and fixed lines to customers.
Existing Vodafone customers will get discounts, while non-mobile customers will also get competitive deals.
This isn’t the first time the network giant has offered fixed line and internet. It initially offered these services before selling to Plusnet in 2011. Vodafone’s acquisition of Cable and Wireless allows it to compete more effectively this time round with a huge fibre optic network covering much of the UK.
This may or may not feed into rumours that have been circulating about Vodafone being interesting in acquiring Virgin Media. Rumours that execs from Vodafone and Liberty Media, who own Virgin Media have been circulating a while, but nothing concrete has come out of it. However, The news that Vodafone will be offering a TV service later this year only adds fuel to the fire.
Both the hardware and big data deals and this new fixed line and internet service shows that Vodafone is going full steam ahead with growth and expansion. It’s certainly a good time to be a Vodafone customer!
