Vodafone Invests 250 Million Euros to Promote B2B
Vodafone will spend 250 million euros ($273 million) this fiscal year to strengthen its B2B division, with a focus on services such as cybersecurity, cloud, productivity, connectivity, and the Internet of Things. The operator stated that these services already account for every two orders in Vodafone’s business.
Luca Mucic, Chief Financial Officer of Vodafone Group, mentioned the investment in the B2B transformation plan (called Spark) during the recent earnings conference call, which will be announced in the first quarter of the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2025 (the first quarter of fiscal year 25). Vodafone further clarified that the group is reallocating 250 million euros of investment to support new Vodafone business products and management service functions.
Vodafone Germany particularly welcomes this move as the company is seeking enormous growth potential in developing more advanced enterprise services beyond traditional fixed and wireless connectivity products. This measure will also appoint 120 ‘experts’ who will provide the required experience in different fields.
A spokesperson for Vodafone also pointed out that the 120 new positions in Germany are part of the group’s plan to recruit over 400 specialized new positions in Vodafone’s business units this year to support the provision of new digital services. The spokesperson added that they have joined a unified global business team with over 12000 employees worldwide.
At the same time, Vodafone Germany has also hired a new General Manager Hagen Rickmann for its B2B division in this fiscal year. He will take over as the B2B General Manager of Vodafone Germany on March 1, 2025. Prior to October last year, he had been serving as the Commercial Customer General Manager of Vodafone’s competitor Telekom Deutschland. Prior to this, Zoltan Bickel was the acting supervisor for the company’s clients.
Rickmann will actually play a dual role at Vodafone. He will join Vodafone Group a few months ago (November 2024). As the new business director of Vodafone Group, he will be responsible for corporate customer business in Germany, Albania, the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Türkiye.
In this position, he will report to Marika Auramo, the newly appointed CEO of Vodafone Business. As the General Manager of B2B in Germany, he will report to Marcel de Groot, CEO of Vodafone Germany.
Vodafone Business currently has approximately 1300 employees in Germany and has stated that around 850 of them are receiving training in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and network security.
As Bickel pointed out, “Customers already want more than just SIM cards and landline phone connections. Every order we place is for our Beyond Connectivity service. And demand continues to grow. Therefore, in order to provide the best support for customers on their digital journey, we are strengthening our Vodafone business team.”
As Vodafone advances its B2B business comprehensively, its German subsidiary is in a particularly worrying period. For example, Vodafone acknowledges that due to changes in German television laws, the company expects only 50% of its over 8.5 million residential unit (MDU) households to be retained.
During the financial conference call for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024 (FY24), Mooch stated that FY25 will be a “transitional year” for Vodafone Germany. He stated that although potential growth is expected to remain positive in the year ending March 31, 2025, it will not be enough to offset the ‘MDU headwinds’.
Vodafone stated that despite a 5.8% decrease in adjusted EBITDAAL due to rising energy and other inflation costs, service revenue in Germany resumed growth in FY24, with a full year growth of 0.2% and a fourth quarter growth of 0.6%. However, in the first quarter of fiscal year 25, service revenue in Germany decreased by 1.5%, mainly due to the impact of changes in MDU television laws.