Vodafone Group took the wraps off a new brand unifying its procurement, voice and roaming businesses, a move the unit’s CEO Ninian Wilson told Mobile World Live (MWL) will provide the scale to develop new products, embed AI capabilities and tie in with a company-wide simplification push.
In an exclusive interview with MWL on the eve of the unveiling of the brand, dubbed Vodafone Procure & Connect, Wilson explained it had looked at tying up voice, roaming and procurement a few years ago, but the idea was really given fuel when CEO Margherita Della Valle took over and pushed a simplification agenda.
The original Vodafone Procurement Company was founded back in 2008, while its roaming operations were centralised two years later and both operate from Luxembourg, where Wilson (pictured, left) is based and previously served as the operator’s Supply Chain Management Director.
In total, the procurement business manages an annual spend of €19 billion for Vodafone’s operating companies, Partner Markets, joint ventures and third parties, working with 8,000 global suppliers. Meanwhile Vodafone states it is one of the world’s leading providers for voice and roaming, collaborating with more than 700 network partners, managing €1.5 billion in roaming and voice trading volume annually, and handles 25 billion voice minutes.
Wilson explained it would look to the unified brand to develop new products and services; embed AI capabilities into procurement and roaming activities; and to simplify operations to make it easier for customers, grow relationships and get more volume.
While not revealing any financial targets, Wilson added the aim was to grow revenue. He confirmed the shake-up would not lead to headcount reductions.
“It’s about building that scale and getting more velocity on new products and services we wish to deliver.”
Wilson also pointed to Tomorrow Street, a joint venture it runs with Luxembourg’s government which works with its procurement business to develop start-ups. These companies can then gain a contract with a Vodafone operating company, and grow their business with the operator as a key client.
Geopolitical challenge
The executive acknowledged the current challenge of the geopolitical situation and added it would have to assess how tariffs from the US impact its supply chain. Wilson spoke to MWL before US President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs on 2 April.
However, he revealed the company had begun building its supply chain resilience more than five years ago after it was hit heavily by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Supply chains were very interrupted, and even simple things became quite expensive. The cost of a 40-foot container from Shanghai to Europe went from around $1,500 to $15,000, so we’ve been working on supply chain resilience for a number of years.”
One of the ways it has looked to protect itself is through the buildout of a new logistics hub in Luxembourg, which will hold specific inventory.
“This allows us to hopefully manage any shocks which we get, whether it is tariffs or trade barriers,” added Wilson.
During the interview, Wilson admitted that with demand in the industry naturally shifting from voice to data, there has been a decline in the latter business, but the company still sees opportunities to grow.
As examples, he pointed to the launch of VoLTE in more than 200 countries, managed service offerings around voice and launching the world’s first standalone 5G call.
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