Displaying items by tag: Vodafone

Vodafone has announced its commitment to reduce the company's global carbon emissions to 'net zero' by 2040, ten years earlier than originally planned.

The company also said that its 2030 carbon reduction targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative as in line with efforts required to keep global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the most ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement. 

By 2030, Vodafone promises to eliminate all carbon emissions from its own activities and from energy it purchases and uses (Scope 1 and 2). Vodafone also promised that by 2030 it will half carbon emissions from Scope 3 sources, including joint ventures, all supply chain purchases, the use of products it sells and business travel. In 2020 alone, Scope 1 and 2 emissions reached 1.84 million t CO2e and Scope 3 emissions reached 11.9 million t CO2e.

Vodafone wants to completely banish Scope 3 emissions by 2040, bringing forward by ten years Vodafone's original 2050 ambition to reach 'net zero' across its full carbon footprint. 

In 2019, Vodafone committed to purchasing all electricity from renewable sources, halving its environmental footprint by 2025 and reusing, reselling or recycling 100 percent of its network waste, supporting the move towards a more circular economy. By no later than July 2021, Vodafone's European network will be powered by 100 percent renewable electricity across 11 markets.

In September of this year, Google announced one of the most ambitious environmental pledges across the telecoms industry, which included its goal to only use carbon-free sources by 2030.

In order to get its net carbon footprint to zero, Google purchased enough carbon offsets to essentially cancel out all of the planet-warming carbon dioxide that the company has released since it was founded in 1998. Google has been carbon neutral every year since 2017 through the purchase of carbon offsets, which means it offsets the emissions it generates from fossil fuels by investing in renewable energy projects that pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has banned phone carriers from selling locked phones starting December 2021 in an effort to give people greater autonomy when it comes to switching between providers.

While operators such as Sky, Virgin, Three and O2 already sell unlocked phones, some of the UK’s other operators like Vodafone, Tesco and EE, still sell phones that need to be unlocked manually before users can switch to a different carrier.

According to Ofcom, the banning of this practice comes as a set of new measures are about to be launched. The telecoms watchdog found that more than a third of people in the UK who were against switching operators said that one of the contributing factors to their decision was that they were put off by having to go through the process of unlocking their phone. In the UK, unlocking a phone costs £10 and it can often lead to delays, loss of service or other issues.

Ofcom’s connectivity director, Selina Chadha, said, “We know that lots of people can be put off from switching because their handset is locked. So we’re banning mobile companies from selling locked phones, which will save people time, money and effort – and help them unlock better deals.”

In reference to this, Vodafone said that it was “ready to implement these changes when they come into force”. BT also said that it was willing to “work with Ofcom to comply with the guidelines”.

In an official statement by Ofcom, the regulator disclosed that it plans to also simplify the switching process for broadband customers.

“We’re also making it easier to switch between broadband networks. At the moment, customers switching between providers such as BT, Sky and TalkTalk on Openreach’s copper network can simply contact their new provider, who will manage the switch from there,” the statement read.

While the UK has moved to ban the sale of carrier-locked mobile phones, the US is on the other end of the spectrum; it is still quite a common practice in the US.

Virgin Media has agreed a five-year mobile deal with Vodafone to bring innovating new services to customers in the UK. The deal includes bringing 5G to around three million mobile users and will allow Virgin Media further flexibility to grow its mobile operation.

The new Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) agreement, which runs until 2026, will see Vodafone supply wholesale mobile network services, including both voice and data, to Virgin Mobile and Virgin Media Business. Virgin Media will have full access to all of Vodafone’s current services and future technologies, such as Vodafone’s expanding 5G network, enabling new product advancements and benefits for its customers.

Virgin Media’s current MVNO agreement with BT Enterprise, which has been in place since January 2017, will come to an end in late 2021, at which point Virgin Media’s mobile offering will transition to Vodafone. Virgin Mobile 5G services are set to launch on the Vodafone network before the transition takes place.

The cable group currently uses BT’s mobile network EE in a deal that runs until 2021. Virgin will also launch 5G services via the Vodafone network before that point. This comes as a blow to BT as it comes under pressure to spend billions upgrading full-fibre capability. The current deal costs Virgin £200m a year.

Lutz Schüler, Virgin Media CEO, said: “We’ve worked with BT to provide mobile services for many years and will continue to work together in a number of areas. We want our customers to have a limitless experience - it’s now the right time to take a leap forward with Vodafone to grow further and faster”

He added: “This agreement with Vodafone will bring a host of fantastic benefits and experiences to our customers, including 5G services in the near future.  Twenty years ago Virgin Mobile became the world’s first virtual operator and this new agreement builds on that heritage. It will open up a whole new world of opportunity for Virgin Media as we focus on becoming the most recommended brand for customers and bring our mobile and broadband connectivity closer together in one package for one price.”

Nick Jeffery, Vodafone UK CEO, said: “We are delighted that Virgin has recognised the huge investments we’ve made, and continue to make, in building the UK’s best mobile network and our role in challenging the market with new commercial services. As a result, they have chosen us to work with them in the next phase of their development.

Vodafone announced switching on 5G in seven UK cities, including London, in partnership with Ericsson. This step puts the UK among the first to launch the fifth generation technology and sheds light on how Europe is lagging behind because of regulations.

Vodafone’s network was down across Europe on Thursday with thousands of customers unable to use the internet or make phone calls.

Issues began at around 14:42 BST according to network monitor Down detector. Customers all over the UK reported issues and so did customers in Spain, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Greece and Portugal.

Many customers took to Twitter to express their frustration on the matter.

Vodafone then acknowledged the outage and tweeted, “We are currently investigating a potential outage to our fixed and mobile services. We thank you for your patience as we work to get this resolved.”

The company has around 19.5 million UK customers and around 444 million globally.

Initially, it looked more like an isolated issue with customers in some UK cities thought to have been among those affected; however, Economics Correspondent Paul Cogan at Virgin Media TV noticed that Down Detector showed more maps with even more outages.

He stated, “Vodafone’s problems don’t seem to be restricted to just Europe. Down Detector outage maps show problems in India, Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.”

The global disruption was then confirmed when Vodafone Ghana tweeted, “Vodafone Ghana wishes to apologize for the intermittent network challenges experienced by some of our mobile customers. Resolving it remains our topmost priority. We shall keep you updated. Thanks for your patience.”

Vodafone then apologized for the inconvenience and said the services were back to normal. “This issue has now been fully resolved and normal service has been restored to customers. We thank you for your patience and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.”

The network outage comes a month after Vodafone set its launch date for its new 5G network in seven UK cities.

The company last experienced an outage in October 2018.

Vodafone, the British Telecom giant, announced Tuesday its losses for the fiscal year which ended in March 2019 of 7.6 billion Euros ($ 8.5 billion).

The US-led campaign against Chinese telecommunications behemoth Huawei is now facing resistance from a number of major European operators.

Washington has been engaged in a sustained offensive attack on China’s major telecommunication vendors Huawei and ZTE over the last number of years.

However, that has heightened in recent months, with the United States labelling Huawei and ZTE as a severe threat to national security. US President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order later this week which would prohibit both Chinese vendors from being involved in wireless networks in the US.

In addition to this, lobbyists on behalf of the US convinced its allies Australia and New Zealand to prevent either company from participating in the rollout of their respective 5G networks. The US is now pressuring Europe to follow suit.  Earlier this week, comments by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added further fuel to the ongoing saga when he said that countries that use Huawei technology could hurt their relationship with the United States.

However, that has been met with resistance from major European operators who have discovered that they will have to fork out more to replace equipment from Huawei and ZTE, and that a blanket ban on both companies would significantly impact its ability to launch 5G services in the next twelve months, as Huawei is the global leader on 5G equipment.

A number of prominent executives from Europe’s top operators told The Wall Street Journal that Huawei hardware was much better than the rest on offer and often cost less; not using it could well mean that Europe would lag Asia and countries in other regions that use gear from Huawei for their 5G rollouts.

In addition to this, Nick Read, chief executive of Vodafone Group, was quoted as saying in January that a total ban on the carrier's use of Huawei equipment “would have significant financial cost, would have significant customer disruption and would delay 5G rollout in several countries”. The UK's four major wireless operators — Vodafone, BT Group, Telefonica and CK Hutchison Holdings' Three — were all against a ban.

But it is not only big carriers who prefer Huawei equipment, with Jersey Telecom, a publicly-owned company operating in the Isle of Jersey, also expressing a preference for Chinese equipment.

The company sought bids from both Chinese and Western companies in 2014 for its wireless network and while Huawei's bid 20% below the lowest Western offer, ZTE was 40% cheaper. Jersey Telecom chief executive Graeme Millar went with ZTE, and commented: "I have a genuinely high-class, low-cost supplier with ZTE, who haven’t let me down yet.”

The US stands accused of using Huawei and ZTE as political pawns in the ongoing trade war standoff between Washington and Beijing.

Embattled Chinese telecommunication vendors Huawei and ZTE have received a welcome reprieve following the news that two Spanish operators are planning on using them for forthcoming 5G pilots.

Vodafone Group’s financial results for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 show a 3.6% decline year-on-year to €11.8 billion, due mostly to the removal of figures relating to its Netherlands Vodafone Ziggo joint venture from overall earnings. The company’s India unit was heavily affected by “intense price competition” and new regulation on termination fees.

Although India is excluded from Vodafone Group’s overall figures, the company’s pending merger with Indian operator Idea Cellular means it continues to provide updates for the unit. Vodafone India’s revenue in fiscal Q3 declined 26.6% year-on-year to €1.1 billion.

However, Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao said the regulatory process for the Idea Cellular merger was going well and should be complete in the first half of 2018.

On 20 March 2017, Vodafone announced an agreement to combine its subsidiary, Vodafone India (excluding its 42% stake in Indus Towers), with Idea Cellular. The combined company will be jointly controlled by Vodafone and the Aditya Birla Group.

Service revenue declined 23.1% for Vodafone India as a result of intense price competition, Vodafone Group reported, which continued during Q3 as the Indian market leader increased the competitiveness of its tariffs despite price rises announced by the new entrant Reliance Jio.

This was exacerbated by a 29.2% decline in interconnection revenues following a MTR (mobile termination rates) cut on 1 October. Excluding the impact of regulation, service revenue declined by 14.2%. On a sequential basis, local currency service revenues excluding regulation declined 1.5% quarter-on-quarter.

“While the competitive and regulatory environment in India remains intense, we continue to make good progress in securing the required approvals for the merger with Idea Cellular,” said Colao, “and we have taken steps to strengthen the combined company’s financial position.”

Vodafone Group’s Networks Centre of Excellence team and the Huawei Mobile Innovation Centre have been testing a way to help address spectrum constraints in Turkey. The teams have completed the world’s first trial of GSM/LTE (GL) 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing on Vodafone’s commercial networks in the Black Coast city of Trabzon.

"Spectrum is an extremely precious asset. This new network optimization technique improves spectral efficiency and enhances the experience of Vodafone customers,” said Mallik Rao, Vodafone Turkey’s Chief Technology Officer.”

Last year Vodafone and Huawei achieved overlap by GSM (2G) and LTE (4G) services within the 900 MHz spectrum band. Now the companies have shown that it is possible to assign that spectrum dynamically i.e. available 900 MHz can be allocated between 4G and 2G services based on customer demand.

In the trial, which took place over several months, dynamic sharing allowed Vodafone Turkey to provide up to 10MHz of 4G capacity and throughput in a very effective way. 4G KPIs show the improvement in network performance and better user experience. The test cases showed that download and upload throughput improved by 20 percent.

Ying Weimin, President of Huawei Wireless Network Research & Development, said: “We are glad to have tested GL 900MHz dynamic spectrum sharing on Vodafone Turkey’s commercial networks, and to have achieved satisfying performance results in the past few months. Huawei is dedicated to offering technical innovations to secure our customers' business success.”