5
Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2026
Vodafone Group Plc Annual Report 2026
Strategic report
Governance
Financials
Other information
Mega trends Long-term trends shaping our industry
We are shaping the future of connectivity. Our innovative, world-class solutions will help our customers thrive in this evolving landscape, driving resilience and long-term value in our business.
Long-term trends shaping our industry
Opportunity for Vodafone
40.6 billion forecast for the number of IoT connections by 2034, increasing from 17.7 billion in 2024.
Connected devices – The world is becoming more connected and whilst adoption of consumer electronics devices has plateaued, new factors continue to emerge, including extending connectivity into the Internet of Things (‘IoT’). – IoT devices are used in consumer and business applications. As their number grows, physical assets communicate in real time, enabling digital markets. – This leads to the Economy of Things, where devices trade securely on a user’s behalf without human intervention, creating opportunities to transform goods into tradeable digital assets for online markets. Digital payments – Businesses in Europe are migrating sales online, driving demand for mobile-enabled payment services and reliable connectivity. Consumers are shifting from cash to digital payments via mobile phones and smartwatches. – In Africa, digital payments are primarily conducted via mobile phones through networks owned by operators. – Rising smartphone penetration drives mobile payment adoption, enabling operators and FinTech start-ups to offer services like insurance, loans, and e-commerce, improving financial inclusion in underserved areas. Cloud Technology – As cloud convergence accelerates, enterprises are distributing applications, data and workloads across hybrid and multi‑cloud environments. This shift is driving demand for integrated digital infrastructure combining connectivity with cloud, software and AI. – Cyber security and data sovereignty are becoming central to cloud adoption. Customers require protection, resilience and control over where data is stored and governed. – As application performance, trust and compliance become dependent on network reliability, resilience, cyber security and data sovereignty, these attributes are expected to become more important differentiators than speed alone. Generative AI – GenAI is moving from experimentation to scaled deployment across functions, embedded in customer service, marketing, software delivery and IT operations. – Models generate content, code and recommendations, improving decision-making and productivity, while increasing data, security and governance requirements. – Agentic AI is also gaining prominence, with agents able to plan and complete tasks across applications, reshaping how people search, buy and manage services, and accelerating automation and new business models at greater scale.
We are a global leader in managed IoT connectivity services, recognised for our extensive reach and innovative solutions. We have helped thousands of companies achieve their transformation goals. This ranges from energy optimisation to smart waste management, from urban mobility to connected healthcare. We are now ready to hyperscale IoT. We are bringing together partners, and technology to create the IoT ecosystem for the next decade. Our partnership with Microsoft further gives us the potential to access new technologies such as Generative Artificial Intelligence (‘Gen AI’) and to deploy these at scale for IoT. In Europe, we enable secure digital payments within trusted operator ecosystems, supporting growth as demand increases for integrated, regulated payment solutions. M-Pesa is Africa’s leading mobile money service and largest FinTech platform, offering secure and affordable money transfers, airtime top-ups, bill payments, salaries, and short-term loans. Businesses increasingly rely on operator-owned payment infrastructure for consumer and business transactions, driving scale benefits and attracting customers to secure networks. Vodacom’s VodaPay super app enables users to manage money through a digital wallet and make payments for various products and services via partner businesses. As cloud convergence accelerates, our opportunity extends beyond connectivity to orchestrating integrated digital infrastructure for customers. By combining high‑quality, reliable networks with cloud, AI, cyber, data‑sovereign and software capabilities, we can enable secure, scalable and mission‑critical services. As application performance becomes increasingly dependent on network reliability, resilience and data sovereignty, these attributes are expected to become more important differentiators than speed alone, supporting long‑term value creation for enterprise customers. We can deploy GenAI at speed and scale through partnerships with Google and Microsoft, enhancing TOBi and enabling more personalised experiences across customer touchpoints. As agentic AI grows, Vodafone can support new shopping and service journeys and explore new revenue opportunities, for example agent-enabled commerce and proactive care. Internally, GenAI and agents can automate testing, service assurance and back-office workflows, improving productivity, reliability and digital efficiency across our networks end-to-end.
$2.0 trillion+ the annual value of mobile money transactions reached globally in 2025, doubling since 2021.
€84 billion The expected total addressable market in business-to-business cloud and security by 2028.
79% The percentage of organisations regularly using Gen Al in at least one business function, up from 33% in 2023.
Powered by FlippingBook