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Vodafone


Vodafone is a multinational mobile phone operator with headquarters in Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom and Düsseldorf, Germany. It is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world, with equity interests in 26 countries and Partner Networks (networks in which it has no equity stake) in a further 14 countries.

At the end of 2004, Vodafone had approximately 152 million customers worldwide. Vodafone is listed on the London Stock Exchange as Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD.L) and New York Stock Exchange, symbol VOD.

Vodafone stands for VOice-DAta-FONE.

Contents

Management

  • Chairman - Lord MacLaurin
  • Deputy Chairman - Paul Hazen
  • Chief Executive - Arun Sarin
  • Chief Operating Officer - Sir Julian Horn-Smith
  • Chief Marketing Officer - Peter Bamford
  • Chief Technology Officer - Thomas Geitner

Vodafone in Europe

Vodafone currently operates in the following countries in the European region:

History

  • 1985-01-01 : First phone call on Vodafone United Kingdom's Analogue network. This event was staged, due to a network failure; the first calls actually being made the next day
  • October 1991: Racal Telecom is demerged from Racal Electronics and becomes Vodafone Group.
  • June 1992: Vodafone Germany 's (still as "Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH") network went live.
  • July 1992: Vodafone United Kingdom's GSM network went live.
  • September 1992: Vodafone Sweden 's network went live.
  • October 1992: Vodafone Portugal 's (still as "Telecel, Comunicaçġes Pessoais, SA") network went live.
  • July 1993: Vodafone Greece 's network went live.
  • July 1993: Vodafone Ireland's GSM network went live.
  • September 1995: Vodafone Italy 's (still as "Omnitel") network went live.
  • November 1995: Vodafone Spain 's (still as "Airtel") network went live.
  • 2000: Vodafone took over German mobile network operator Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmBH & Co KG. The deal is one of the largest in European history.
  • 2001-04-16 First 3G voice call on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network.
  • 2001: Vodafone took over Eircell, then part of Eircom in Ireland and rebranded it Vodafone Ireland.
  • 2001-2002: Vodafone acquired Japan's third largest mobile operator J-Phone, which had introduced camera phones first in Japan.
  • 2002: Vodafone rebranded Japan's J-sky mobile internet service as Vodafone live!™ as its mobile customer portal
  • 2004: Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.
  • 2005: Vodafone increased its participation in Romania's Connex to 99%. Vodafone also bought Czech mobile operator Oskar.

Vodafone in Asia-Pacific

Vodafone currently operates in the following countries in the Asia-Paficic region:

History

  • July 1993: BellSouth New Zealand's network went live.
  • October 1993: Vodafone Australia 's network went live.
  • July 1994: Vodafone Fiji 's network went live.
  • November 1998: Vodafone purchased BellSouth New Zealand, and it became known as Vodafone New Zealand .
  • 1999-2000: J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in response to DoCoMo's i-Mode service.
  • December 2002: J-Phone's 3G network went live.
  • October 1st 2003: Vodafone changed the name of it's Japanese subsidiary from J-Phone to 'Vodafone', and the name of J-Phone's mobile internet service from J-Sky to Vodafone Live!

Vodafone in the Middle East and Africa

Vodafone currently operates in the following countries in the Middle East and Africa region:

History

  • May 1998: Vodafone Egypt network went live under the name ClickGSM.

Vodafone in the United States

In the United States, Vodafone owns 44% of Verizon Wireless, the country's second largest mobile carrier. However, the phone company (Verizon) owns a majority of Verizon Wireless and Vodafone's branding is not used, nor is the network compatible with GSM phones.

Corporate sponsorship

References

External link


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