Vodafone 2011 Annual Report Download - page 4

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About us
A business intent on meeting all our
customers’ communication needs
Technologies and resources
The latest technologies
offering our best customer
experience
Network infrastructure
We have one of the largest mobile footprints in
the world with more than 224,000 base station
sites. During the year our networks carried
around 850 billion minutes of voice trafc
(equivalent to 208 minutes per month, per
customer) and 161 petabytes of data equivalent
to downloading over 1,400 three minute video
clips every second.
Network performance
We continue to invest around £6 billion a year
to maintain leadership of our networks. Tests
show that in the Europe region, Vodacom and
Egypt, Vodafone offers peak user data downlink
speeds which are on average 40% faster than
our best competitors.
Research and development (‘R&D’)
We drive innovation through new technologies
and enhancements to existing capabilities.
This year R&D expenditure amounted to
£287 million.
Customer support technologies
Our billing and customer relationship
management systems are being enhanced
to enable our customers to manage a single
account, with a single bill, for multiple devices
or for several people.
Licences and spectrum
Licences and spectrum enable us to deliver xed
and mobile communications services in certain
markets. During the year we acquired additional
licences and spectrum in several markets,
including India for third generation (‘3G’)
services and Germany for the provision of
fourth generation (‘4G’) or ‘LTE’ services, to
enhance the speed, coverage and quality
of voice and data services in those markets.
Strategic agreements
We work closely with some of the world’s
leading companies to deliver innovative
products and services to our customers.
Our agreements with Samsung, Google®,
Microsoft®, HTC and others have enabled us
to be rst to market with cutting-edge smart
devices. We now distribute the Apple iPad in the
UK and to our enterprise customers in Europe.
For enterprise customers, in partnership with
Microsoft we provide the Microsoft Online suite
which provides hosted email, conferencing
and collaboration services. In conjunction with
RIM® and Nokia, Vodafone customers using
smartphones will be able to securely pay for
applications via their Vodafone bill.
Brand
According to Brand Finance plc, the Vodafone
brand has risen to become the fth most
valuable brand in the world. In the 2010 calendar
year we renewed our title partnership with the
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula One team.
It has been a strong year for the sponsorship
with increased television viewing gures and
greater exposure.
People
We employed approximately 83,900 people
worldwide during the year, compared to 85,000
the previous year.
Employees by activity (%)
Customer care and administration
Operations
Selling and distribution
Customers
International customer
base with diverse needs
We have an international customer
base in both developed and
emerging markets with over
370 million mobile customers in
more than 30 countries. During
the year we added over 40 million
customers, mostly in India. We serve
India
Vodacom
Germany
Egypt
Italy
UK
Spain
Other
Customers by markets (%)
Customer service
We are redesigning and
improving our customer
care, retail presence and
online service to ensure
that customers get the
best data experience
with Vodafone.
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2 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2011