255 Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2024
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
History and development Unaudited information
Regulation Unaudited information
Introduction Our operating companies are generally subject to regulation governing their business activities. Such regulation typically takes the form of industry-specific law and regulation covering telecommunications services and general competition (anti-trust) law applicable to all activities. The following section describes the regulatory frameworks and the key regulatory developments at national and regional levels and in the European Union (‘EU’), in which we had significant interests during the period ended 31 March 2024. Many of the regulatory developments reported in the following section involve ongoing proceedings or consideration of potential proceedings that have not reached a conclusion. Accordingly, we are unable to attach a specific level of financial risk to our performance from such matters. EU In November 2023, the EU adopted a regulation laying down harmonised rules on fair access to and fair use of data (the ‘Data Act’). The Regulation applies to manufacturers of connected devices, data holders, recipients, and providers of data processing services (cloud service providers) who will be subject to new requirements to support switching and interoperability. The Digital Markets Act (‘DMA’) was published in the official EU Journal in November 2022 and implementation and enforcement are underway. Providers of online platforms who pass the quantitative thresholds to be designated as ’gatekeepers’ (annual turnover of €7.5 billion within the EU or a worldwide market valuation of €75 billion, plus 45 million monthly active end-users and 10,000 business users) will be subject to ex-ante regulatory obligations under the DMA. As of February 2024, six companies have been designated as digital gatekeepers across 20 Core Platform Services (CPS). The Digital Markets Act became fully enforceable on 7th March 2024, with the six companies designated as Digital Gatekeepers taking steps to comply with the regulation and evidencing this in the form of a report to be audited by the European Commission (‘EC’). The European Commission has already launched investigations into three Gatekeepers for possible non-compliance with their obligations under the law: Apple, Google and Meta. The primary focus of these investigations is on conditions and charges for developers within the Apple and Google app stores, and in particular on the new Core Technology Fee that Apple has announced as part of its DMA compliance. The EC commits to conclude proceedings within 12 months. Companies will receive preliminary findings from the Commission that they can respond to and the opportunity to submit commitments. When the final decision is out, Gatekeepers will have two months to appeal to the EU courts. The Digital Services Act (‘DSA’) was also published in the official EU Journal in November 2022. Online platforms, who have new obligations under the DSA, will be required to report their numbers of active users to the EC, to inform the designation of Very Large Online Platforms (‘VLOPs’) who will be subject to additional risk assessment and platform design obligations. As of August 2023, several companies have been designated as VLOPs and are now subject to regular auditing and regulatory requirements on platform design, risk assessment and mitigation. Smaller online platforms and other intermediaries became subject to new and updated rules on content moderation and due diligence from 17 February 2024. On 24 April 2023, the EU-Ukraine Association Committee in Trade Configuration adopted a decision to apply EU Roam-Like-at-Home, intra-EU communication provisions and EU fixed termination rates (FTR) and mobile termination rates (MTR) between the EU and Ukraine. The time frame for transposition by Ukraine is one year after entry into force of this decision. The EC will then assess the transposition and in a further step grant internal market treatment
The Company was incorporated under English law in 1984 as Racal Strategic Radio Limited (registered number 1833679). After various name changes, 20% of Racal Telecom Plc share capital was offered to the public in October 1988. The Company was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991 at which time it changed its name to Vodafone Group Plc. Since then we have entered into various transactions which impacted the development of the Group. The most significant in the year ended 31 March 2024 are summarised below. – On 29 March 2023, the Vodafone Group announced the initiation of procedures for a statutory merger and squeeze-out of minority shareholders in Kabel Deutschland Holding AG (’KDG’). This is procedure is now complete and Vodafone Group own 100% of KDG. – On 14 June 2023 Vodafone Group and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited (“CKHGT”), a wholly owned subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, entered into binding agreements in relation to a combination of their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK (the “Transaction”). Vodafone will own 51% of the combined business (“MergeCo”) and CKHGT 49%. Vodafone UK will be contributed with £4.3 billion and Three UK with £1.7 billion, subject to customary completion adjustments. MergeCo’s aggregate consolidated free cash flow will be distributed to the shareholders at least on an annual basis, subject to a target aggregate consolidated net financial debt of 2.5x MergeCo’s 12 month rolling Adjusted EBITDAaL. – On 18 July 2023 further to the announcement of a co-control partnership for Vantage Towers on 9 November 2022, Vodafone Group announced that, based on commitments secured by the consortium of long-term infrastructure investors led by Global Infrastructure Partners and KKR (together the “Consortium”), Vodafone will receive further proceeds of €500 million, taking total net proceeds to €5.4 billion and the Consortium’s ownership in Oak Holdings GmbH (“Oak Holdings”) to 40%. Vodafone agreed with the Consortium a further 6 month window to acquire additional shares in Oak Holdings at the same price, up to a maximum of 50% ownership, by the end of 2023. Vodafone’s 12 month option to pursue a sell-down to a 50% ownership stake in Oak Holdings outside of lock-up provisions and other restrictions will now commence on 1 January 2024. – On 31 October 2023 Vodafone Group announced that it entered into a binding agreement with Zegona Communications plc (“Zegona”) in relation to the sale of 100% of Vodafone Holdings Europe, S.L.U. (“Vodafone Spain”) (the “Transaction”). On completion, Vodafone’s consideration will comprise at least €4.1 billion in cash and up to €0.9 billion in the form of Redeemable Preference Shares which redeem, for an amount comprising the subscription price and accrued preferential dividend, no later than 6 years after closing. Vodafone and Zegona have entered into an agreement whereby Vodafone will provide certain services to Vodafone Spain for a total annual service charge of c.€110 million. – On 15 March 2024 Vodafone Group announced a binding agreement to sell 100% of its Italian operations (“Vodafone Italy”) to Swisscom AG (“Swisscom”) (the “Transaction”). As part of the Transaction, Vodafone and Swisscom have agreed that Vodafone will continue to provide certain services (the “Group Services”) to Swisscom for up to 5 years. The annual charge for the Group Services to be paid by Swisscom to Vodafone for the first year after completion is estimated at approximately €350 million, of which approximately €176 million reflect charges currently reported below Vodafone Italy’s segmental Adjusted EBITDAaL.
Click here to view a simplified holding structure for the Vodafone Group: investors.vodafone.com/ VodafoneGroupHoldingStructure
Read more in our financial statements, note 12 ‘Investments in associate and joint arrangements’
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