Vodafone will expand access to Google’s AI-powered Pixel devices with its fast 5G network and offer Google One AI Premium subscription plans, which include Gemini Advanced, in select territories by 2025.
Vodafone and Google announced a ten-year strategic expansion of their existing partnership with the aim to bring new generative AI (GenAI) powered devices to millions of Vodafone’s customers across Europe and Africa.
GenAI technology will be expanded through Google’s Gemini models embedded into its Pixel devices. The tech giant’s AI models are currently used by more than 2 million developers globally. The mentioned AI model can be applied under various scenarios. Gemini can generate responses to user requests. Also, this artificial intelligence model can provide recommendations and new opportunities to both employees and customers.
Vodafone will also offer Google One AI Premium subscription plans by the next year. The premium plans offer extended cloud storage capacity, priority access to new AI-based features, a 1 million token context window, and more.
Besides promoting AI, Vodafone will expand its partnership with Google Cloud. The company will use its existing private data repository as well as Google Cloud’s Vertex AI enterprise-ready AI platform. Vodafone will also develop a new cloud-native security service for its business customers leveraging Google Cloud’s Security Operations platform. Meanwhile, Google will use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services to improve workforce productivity.
The two partners aim to improve and expand the range of products and services available in stores/online and enhance customer experience with the benefits of AI. Thus, they are exploring a more deeply integrated YouTube experience across Vodafone TV devices, and plan to enhance Vodafone TV with Google Cloud’s advanced GenAI capabilities to provide additional content discovery features, rewards, offers, and content monetization with Google Ad Manager.
Vodafone provides mobile and fixed services to over 330 million customers in 15 countries and partners with mobile networks in 45 more locations. In Africa, its fintech businesses manage transactions for almost 79 million customers across seven countries.
We have previously reported that Vodafone plans to integrate blockchain technology and cryptocurrency wallets into smartphone SIM cards.
