Vodafone 2016 Annual Report Download - page 8

Our business model
Investing in a great
platform for the future
Our global scale and reach, leading network quality, and the breadth
of services we offer helps differentiate us from our peers. Our business
model is simple – maintain a virtuous circle of high investment, to maintain
a superior network and customer experience, leading to strong cash
generation so that we can reinvest and reward ourshareholders.
Investment and returns to shareholders
which means…
we can provide customers with wide coverage, both
indoors and outdoors, a reliable connection, high-
speed data transmission, and ample data capacity.
which means…
we can already reach around half of European
households with high speed broadband over 30 Mbps.
which means…
we can provide new offerings, such as single bills for
converged xed and mobile price plans, and cloud &
hosting for business users for more exible working.
Spectrum and
Mobile Network
£7.7bn
spent on spectrum in the last 3 years
300,000
base station sites
We acquire spectrum and licences to use
radio frequencies that deliver mobile services.
We have steadily increased our spectrum
holdings to boost network quality and our
capacity to carry more data. We also have one
of the world’s largest footprints of mobile base
station sites, across 26 countries.
More on spectrum holdings:
Pages 187
Fixed network
72m1
homes reached with high speed broadband
£15bn
spent acquiring xed businesses in recent years
Our xed capabilities comprise cable, bre and
copper networks to enable TV, broadband
and voice services. These depend on either
building our own xed line infrastructure,
renting from incumbent operators or acquiring
cable companies.
Information Technology
(‘IT’)
25m
My Vodafone app users (account self-service)
12
countries have cloud & hosting capability
Our IT estate provides our data centres,
customer relationship capability, customer
billing services and online resources. Over the
last three years we have invested £4.2 billion
to upgrade our IT systems and to standardise
and simplify our processes. This has enhanced
customer services at all touchpoints – in-store,
on the phone and online – and expanded the
range of services we provide.
Superior network infrastructure
£11bn
returned to shareholders in the last 3 years
We recognise that our shareholders regard
the dividend as an important form of return
on their investment. That is why we have
consistently increased the dividend per share
every year for the last 16 years and returned
over £11 billion in normal cash dividends
in the last three years.
£47bn
re-investing in our business
We’ve invested £47 billion in capital
expenditure, new acquisitions and spectrum
and licences in the last three years. This has
enhanced our networks, and competitive
position and enabled us to generate
substantial returns for shareholders.
£19bn
Project Spring
Project Spring was our two year £19 billion
programme of accelerated investment
in mobile and xed networks, IT systems,
products and services, and our retail platform.
It aims to secure a premium position in most
of our markets, and sustain strong cash ows
and growing shareholder returns.
Note: 1 Europe.
Vodafone Group Plc
Annual Report 2016
06