Summary Bullets:
• Many regional telcos serve MNCs headquartered outside their network footprint but need to communicate globally.
• Vodafone Business International is a successful example of this, offering SD-WANs, IoT, and device lifecycle management in addition to connectivity services to 400 businesses.
Communications service providers (CSPs) often derive revenues from multi-national companies (MNCs) that are headquartered outside the CSPs’ footprint. They may provide fixed or mobile connections that originate or terminate on their network. Target companies have facilities, customers, or supply chain partners in countries where they do business or need to frequently communicate with but where they do not have their headquarters location. Simple roaming relationships for mobile communications can provide global or near-global access for basic voice, data, and internet access; however, more complex, secure, reliable, ‘always-on’ communications are often required. For example, The FreeMove Alliance, a mobile telecommunications alliance between Deutsche Telekom, Orange, TIM, and Telia, serves as a mobile services hub that helps the top 500 MNCs in Europe optimize their investment in mobile connectivity by offering them global access to reliable networks through a central point of provisioning, management, and support.
Vodafone Business International (VBI) does not need this kind of alliance to provide reliable global connectivity because it has such a large footprint of its own and has partners in regions that offer connectivity beyond Vodafone’s own fixed and mobile networks. Vodafone Americas and Vodafone Partner Markets focus on customers headquartered across the Americas, Vodafone’s European Partner Markets (e.g., France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, and Austria as well as countries in Eastern Europe), and international public sector organizations. VBI serves 400+ customers headquartered across the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and European Partner markets in 93 countries. In fiscal year (FY)2023, VBI saw double-digit revenue growth, offering not only on-footprint connectivity and managed services to or from Europe, but also from global managed mobility, SD-WANs, IoT, and device lifecycle management services. It is focused on expanding its channel partners to include more global systems integrators, marketplaces, and local resellers with the aim of radically simplifying how its customers communicate on a global scale and radically becoming a key enabler of their digital strategy. Beyond channel partnerships, VBI anticipates offering new products and services such as multi-country mobile private networks (MPNs) to MNCs, leveraging its solid growth in this technology in Europe. VBI IoT customers can leverage many of the same centers of excellence Vodafone uses in Europe including IoT.nxt for automotive use cases and grandcentrix, a Vodafone subsidiary offering IoT integration and professional services. The US continues to be a significant contributor to VBI’s growth (with 30% growth in the region in 2023), featuring sales to automotive OEMs, medical equipment suppliers, energy solutions providers, and logistic companies.
As an example of the work VBI is doing in the international public sector, Vodafone supports the European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Observation Program. The ESA’s satellite network produces remarkably detailed imaging data on drought, floods, and soil and crop health. Vodafone will integrate this data feed into MyFarmWeb, the cloud-based IoT platform run by Vodafone’s Vodacom subsidiary in South Africa. The MyFarmWeb cloud-based platform allows farmers to store, visualize, and view the information gathered via agricultural IoT sensors and other data sources in the field. With the addition of the ESA satellite data, growers who use the MyFarmWeb platform can make more precise decisions about applying water, fertilizer, and pesticides. That level of precision will lead to higher yields while reducing waste and the climate impact of excess inputs such as diesel fuel.