- Vodafone has announced a ten-year partnership with Microsoft to deliver artificial intelligence, digital services and cloud solutions to more than 300 million businesses and consumers in Africa and Europe.
- Within the next ten years, the telecommunications company plans to invest 1.5 billion dollars cloud and customer-centric AI services built in partnership with Microsoft. The tech giant will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services.
- The partnership will transform “Vodafone’s customer experience using Microsoft’s genetic AI, Vodafone’s leading managed IoT connectivity platform, develop new digital and financial services for businesses, particularly SMEs across Europe and Africa, and review the global cloud strategy for data centersβ.
- It also plans to scale up M-PESA – Kenya’s Safaricom mobile money platform – and boost financial inclusion across Africa.
In 2020, South Africa’s Vodacom and Kenya’s Safaricom acquired M-PESA from the UK’s Vodafone. In August 2017, Vodafone transferred its 35% ownership of Safaricom to Vodacom, combining its African assets with the Vodacom brand.
However, Vodafone, Vodacom’s parent company, currently owns a 5% stake in Safaricom.
The British telco is present in 47 African countries, including DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya and Lesotho, with 186 million customers across the continent.
Microsoft will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services and invest in Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform, which will operate independently until April 2024.
The independent company will create opportunities for new partners and customers by promoting application development and expanding the platform to connect more devices, vehicles and machines.
In addition, the digital services created by this new partnership will use the latest advances in genetic AI technology to deliver a highly personalized and distinct customer experience across multiple channels.
They will be based on impartial and ethical privacy and security policies that adhere to Vodafone’s established framework for responsible artificial intelligence.
Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said the emerging era of artificial intelligence will open up new opportunities for businesses and sectors worldwide.
Be the smartest one in the room
Join 30,000 subscribers who receive Techpoint Digest, an entertaining 5-minute weekly digest of African and global tech happenings, delivered directly to your inbox, hours before anyone else.
He emphasized that the companies will use the latest cloud and AI technologies to improve the customer experience for hundreds of millions of people and businesses in Europe and Africa and accelerate the company’s cloud migration.
Vodafone and Amazon cooperated in September 2023 to expand 4G/5G services to new areas, eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming investments in fixed wireless or fiber-based connections in their core networks.