Vodafone and Emirates Telecom expand relationship
Vodafone Group and Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&) announced that they have agreed on a strategic relationship that brings the two operators closer together in certain aspects of their businesses.
e&, incidentally, has emerged as the biggest shareholder in Vodafone over the last few months, while Vodafone had said there was no move on e&’s part to acquire it.
e& and Vodafone’s new ‘relationship agreement establishes e& as a cornerstone shareholder of Vodafone. This is the next phase in a strategic relationship that began in May 2022, when e& made its first investment in Vodafone.
The strategic relationship also enables collaboration across multiple growth areas, as ‘e& and Vodafone may be able to benefit from each other’s respective operational scale and complementary geographic footprint’.
The key areas of commercial collaboration that e& and Vodafone will initially pursue include:
- On enterprise, e& and Vodafone will explore jointly offering cross-border digital services and solutions to multi-national customers and public sector organizations. Services will include fixed and mobile connectivity, Mobile Private Networks, IoT, cybersecurity, and cloud-based services.
- In procurement, e& and Vodafone will seek to share best practices and may adopt joint procurement.
- In carrier, wholesale and roaming, the two operators will work together to become the partner of choice in providing access to high-quality digital infrastructure.
- In technology, both teams will seek to work together on a technology roadmap, including the evolution and adoption of OpenRAN. vodafone e&
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone Group Chief Executive, said: “We know e& well and I’m delighted we have strengthened our existing relationship through this strategic partnership. This closer alignment allows us to capture opportunities in our respective markets and brings additional telecoms experience to our Board.”
Hatem Dowidar, Chief Executive Officer of e&, said: “Our investment in Vodafone is anchored by Vodafone Group’s established position and worldwide reputation as a prominent industry player that provides cutting-edge connectivity and digital services. This aligns with e&’s vision of becoming a global telecom and technology player.
We extend a warm welcome to Margherita Della Valle as Vodafone’s newly appointed Group Chief Executive Officer, and we have full confidence in her leadership abilities to steer the company toward growth. We are convinced that our strategic relationship will unlock opportunities for both companies to explore the swiftly expanding global telecom market and next-generation technologies”.
Under the terms of the agreement, the Group Chief Executive Officer of e&, will join the Vodafone Board as a non-executive Director – for as long as e& maintains its current shareholding of 14.6 percent. e& will also have the ability to nominate a second non-executive Director, independent of e&, if its shareholding exceeds 20 percent (subject to certain adjustments while regulatory approvals are outstanding).
These appointments are subject to receipt by e& of the required regulatory approvals.
