Vodafone's corporate
logo is the outline of a
SIM card
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 and New York Stock Exchange, symbol VOD.
Vodafone stands for VOice-DAta-FONE.
Management
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, Comunicações 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.
- 2002: Vodafone launched Vodafone live!™ its mobile customer portal
- 2004: Vodafone introduced 3G services into Europe.
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.
- December 2002: J-Phone's 3G network went live.
- October 1st 2003: Vodafone's Japanese unit J-Phone dropped its brandname in favor of the globally recognized 'Vodafone'.
Vodafone in the United States
In the United States, Vodafone owns 44% of Verizon Wireless, which was the country's 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
Vodafone's global website (http://www.vodafone.com/)
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ja:ボーダフォン
