FY26 Q&A Transcript

Vodafone Group Plc FY26 Q&A Transcript

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The other area is shared operations. We are embedding AI at the scale. In fact, our shared operations are the perfect setup to be able to drive the benefits of AI. Favourite examples there, what we are doing in procurement. Our procurement platform, as I said, operation, is the perfect setup to give us a competitive edge in terms of getting the AI benefits through our supplier network. We also have the purchasing platform, where we are basically leveraging AI to tender in a more regular, frequent way. Margherita mentioned networks as a key area. Really for us, a key enabler. We are seeing significant savings already, but more importantly is positioning us for structural change of our cost base while delivering higher standards of customer experience, which is a key priority, the key priority for us. Maybe just to add that all this is built on foundations that are essential for scale. I would just mention two points. One is we have a fully multi-vendor architecture. Even within the same use cases we are using different LLMs because of course, who knows where AI is going, and therefore we maintain total flexibility to make sure that at every point in time we have the best solutions for our needs. The second is that we have, I think, a unique position with a single data ocean for all our European markets, which is the ideal source, if you want, which we can leverage for all these AI use cases. Super. Thanks. Just a very quick follow-up as well on that, Margherita. Just looking at the maybe the defensive angles on AI. Obviously, not everybody out there is a good actor, you know, read stories about a lot of fraudulent traffic emerging as a result of AI deepfakes, et cetera. I know if you look at email since it turned up in the late nineties, apparently 55%-60% of global email traffic is now actually spam and fraudulent email. Is this a big area of focus and maybe an area that you'll need to invest a lot of money in? Do you need to build significant defences, and can you maybe differentiate yourself against other networks by building these defensive capabilities? Yeah. It goes both ways actually. AI raises new threats for things like fraud or cyber, but AI also allows us to have better defences. For example, you might have seen that across our markets in Europe, we are rolling out for our customers these fraud alerts. You receive a call, and you know in advance that it's a suspicious call. This is really very helpful. The same thing is actually happening on the cyber side. I think what's probably changing in these things, which are both good and bad, is mostly the speed at which we need to operate. Yeah? Everything needs to be much more flexible to react much more quickly. And again, AI helps us in doing that. So both sides. Thank you very much, Vanessa, and thank you for everyone. We have done something a little bit different in these results. As we are opening this new chapter, we have a special presentation for you online. If you want to have a summary of where Vodafone is today and where Vodafone is going, you will find 10-15 minutes for that, in a separate video online. Thank you very much. End of transcript

Margherita Della Valle Vodafone

Emmet Kelly Morgan Stanley

Margherita Della Valle Vodafone