British telecommunications giant Vodafone announced on Tuesday (January 16) that it has reached a ten-year partnership with Microsoft to provide generative artificial intelligence, digital, enterprise, and cloud services to over 300 million businesses and consumers in the European and African markets.
Vodafone stated that it will invest $1.5 billion in the next decade to develop its customer-centric artificial intelligence using Microsoft's Azure OpenAI and Copilot technologies, and will replace its physical data center with cheaper and scalable Azure cloud services.
In addition, Microsoft will also invest in the IoT platform managed by Vodafone. It is reported that the platform will be spun off as an independent business in April 2024 to help Vodafone expand its mobile finance platform in Africa.
Vodafone's M-PESA mobile payment platform operates in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and other African countries, and Microsoft also has a similar digital vision in the region.
Vodafone CFO Luka Mucic stated that Microsoft's leadership in the field of artificial intelligence, as well as its partnership with OpenAI, will change the telecommunications company's customer service.
He said on Tuesday, "This is what truly attracts every one of our customers. The TOBi chatbot, supported by Microsoft's artificial intelligence, will provide more consistent and intelligent responses to customer queries."
Microsoft's Chief Business Officer, Judson Althoff, stated that Vodafone's strength in the Internet of Things and financial services is of significant strategic importance.
Microsoft has deployed "digital twins" to simulate manufacturing environments for this collaboration, in order to test processes and improve them in the cloud.