Vodafone Group Plc and Microsoft Corp. join forces in a decade-long, $1.5 billion collaboration, propelling AI, IoT, and digital payments on January 16. Under this transformative deal, Vodafone adopts OpenAI on Azure for elevated customer service, integrating Microsoft Copilot to enhance its consumer chatbot.
The partnership envisions providing scalable digital platforms to over 300 million businesses, public sector organizations, and consumers across Europe and Africa. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, foresees this AI generation unlocking vast opportunities globally, enriching customer experiences and accelerating the transition to the cloud.
Microsoft’s $13 billion investment in OpenAI fuels the push for more Copilot AI assistant users, charging corporate customers $30 per user monthly. The investment extends to Vodafone’s global IoT-managed connectivity platform, connecting 175 million devices worldwide and integrating Vodafone into the Azure ecosystem.
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The agreement aims to scale M-Pesa, Africa’s largest financial technology platform, on Azure, impacting 100 million consumers and 1 million SMEs across the continent. Vodafone Group CEO, Margherita Della Valle, sees this partnership as a bold commitment to the digital future, accelerating business transformations and elevating customer experiences.
