The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Posts tagged Vodafone
Vodafone outline corporate responsibility
Sep 17th
Vodafone have released their UK Corporate Responsibility Report, which outlines the challenges faced by the telecoms industry and explains the measures taken by the company to address them.
“Our Goal is to be the UK Communications leader,” said Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone UK,.” I am hugely excited about the potential of communications technology to create social and environmental benefits for the UK”.
Some of the subjects covered in the report include content locking for under 18′s, phone theft, and recycling. On the last subject, Vodafone have said that last year they reused 21.3 tonnes of handsets and recycled 3.1 tonnes.
Also interestingly, and tucked away within all the wonderful statements about making the world a better place, is the news that Vodafone are the first mobile operator in the UK to commit to a so called “SMS999″ scheme, which will allow customers with a speech or hearing inpairment to contact the emergency services.
Vodafone confirms London 3G speed increase
Aug 29th
Link: Vodafone cranks up 3G data rates for autumn | The Register
First reported by us here about a month ago, Vodafone have now confirmed they’ll be rolling out HSDPA and HSUPA speed increases on their 3G network this autumn.
Vodafone will be pushing its HSDPA network to a possible 7.2Mb/sec download speed and introducing HSUPA to increase uploading to a possible 1.44Mb/sec, during the autumn as it tries to boost corporate data usage.
Vodafone defines central London as being E1, E1W, E14, EC1, EC2, EC3, EC4, NW1, SW1, W1, W2, W8, W9, W10, W11, W14, WC1, WC2: so everyone else isn’t central.
As well as Vodafone’s definition of central London, service should be enhanced at most UK airports. Which is nice.
Vodafone shareholders pass on the Mayo
Jul 24th
Link: Vodafone’s rebel investor suffers heavy defeat – Telegraph
Vodafone shareholders have overwhelmingly rejected proposals by rebel investor John Mayo at the company AGM.
Mayo, the head of Efficient Capital Structures (and former Marconi finance director) had been pushing for some changes to the group, including getting rid of their 45% share in US mobile operator Verizon.
In a rather strange twist, Mayo didn’t even turn up to the AGM to answer questions on his proposals. Whether this affected the vote will probably never be known, but with only 4.6% of shareholders voting for the Verizon proposal and 3.15% for a £34bn bond issue proposal, it’s pretty clear that his plans are now in tatters.
According to the Telegraph, the most successful proposal was that to restrict Vodafone’s ability to make acquisitions without shareholder approval, which gained 6.02%. Rather ironic, considering that ECS had effectively pulled the resolution weeks ago.
More on Vodafone’s flooded HQ
Jul 24th
Courtesy of cellular-news.com, we’ve got a little bit more on the story that we bought you over the weekend about the flood-affected Vodafone HQ.
According to the article, it all started going wrong when the nearby Lambourn river burst its banks – which then flooded an ornamental lake in the centre of the complex. Rather ironically, authorities had recently announced plans to upgrade sewers in the area to improve drainage.
The picture on the right is apparently of a stream that runs between two of the buildings on the site – and obviously was taken on a slightly more normal day. Offices in the HQ are reportedly not expected to be useable until later this week.
Vodafone UK drop Nokia N76
Jul 22nd
Link: Vodafone withdraw N76 due to returns numbers
According to All About Symbian, Vodafone have decided to stop selling the Nokia N76 multimedia phone with immediate effect.
I doubt most Nokia N76 buyers in the UK (it’s been an exclusive with Vodafone, remember) were reading my review, so I’d love to know the reasons given by users, but a reliable source is quoted as saying that “Vodafone has decided to withdraw the Nokia N76 with immediate effect. This is due to the high level of customer returns of the phone.” Can anyone at Vodafone fill in more detail?
Have you got an N76 on Vodafone? Add a comment and let us know!
3.5G to get upgrade by end of 2007
Jul 21st
UK mobile operators T-Mobile, 3 and Vodafone have confirmed plans to begin rolling out the High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) standard in the UK by the end of the year.
The technology - which uses packet scheduling – takes the performance enhancements found in the High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) standard and brings them to the upload side of a data connection. The net effect is a balancing of the theoretical maximum upload and download speeds.
Vodafone have already launched the technology in Germany, and will begin rolling out their UK service later this year. Rivals T-Mobile and 3 will also be aiming to start upgrading their network by the end of the year, with Orange planning to introduce the HSUPA service in 2008.
The only UK operator not figuring in these plans is O2 – who have at present not announced plans for HSPA enhancements to their network.
(Thanks to SMS Text News reader Mike for providing additional information to correct this article)
Vodafone’s new ad music comes back to haunt them
Jul 21st
Link: Vodafone sinks to new low | The Register
If you’re a UK TV viewer, you might have seen Vodafone’s recent ad campaign for their new ‘improved’ mobile internet service. The ad features raining watches, with the song “Little April Showers” from Disney’s Bambi playing in the background.
If you haven’t seen it, or want a reminder, here’s the ad (courtesy of YouTube):
In a rather ironic twist of fate, Vodafone’s UK HQ in Newbury, Berkshire is currently knee deep in water, folloing torrential rain and flash flooding that lashed parts of the UK on Friday. The nearby River Lanbourn burst it’s banks, and forced some 3000 staff have been moved to alternative locations (preferably on slightly higher ground). 
With more heavy rain forecast for the coming weekend it’s unsure whether they’ll be back in business by Monday morning.
Needless to say the network shouldn’t be affected by this small soggy setback -although it is possible whoever chose the music and the concept for the ad might be thinking twice about coming into work on Monday morning 
EU drops investigation into roaming overcharging
Jul 19th
Link: Brussels drops mobile roaming case – Times Online
After seven years, millions of pounds and many thousands of man hours later, the EU have decided to drop an investigation into overcharging on overseas calls by mobile operators.
The anti-trust investigation against Vodafone, O2 and T-Mobile, which could have led to multi-million euro fines against the operators, was quietly dropped, as the Commission decided it was redundant following recent roaming caps introduced.
In a statement the Commission said: ‘This (new) regulation addresses the same issues as those raised in these antitrust cases, and clearly resolves them for the future … The Commission has decided to close the case.”
Meanwhile, UK mobile operators have until the end of August to bring into effect the recently agreed roaming charge caps, which limit the cost of making a call whilst abroad to 49 eurocents per minute and receiving a call at 24 eurocents per minute.
Vodafone UK Customers Get Mobile Banking Services
Jul 9th
Link: Vodafone UK Customers Get Mobile Banking Services
Interesting news from Vodafone and MONILINK, the mobile banking network. Vodafone UK customers can now get access to their bank account to check balances, request a mini-statement or top up prepay mobile accounts, straight from their mobile handset.
Available now to HSBC, first direct, Alliance & Leicester customers, with Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and Ulster Bank adding the service later this summer, the service uses a secure application on their handset to connect to the MONILINK platform, which then in turn interacts with their bank.
Al Russell, Head of Vodafone Internet On Your Mobile said: “With the launch of the Vodafone Internet On Your Mobile we want to give customers access to all the services they see as essential, in the palm of their hand. Banking is one of the most important services that our customers use and by partnering with the MONILINK network we can ensure that all of our customers are able to access their bank accounts on the move, whenever they wish.”
The MONILINK service has been developed by Monitise, a specialist in mobile banking technology, and VocaLink, the transaction specialists behind the UK’s ATM network, processing over eight billion transactions per year including 15 per cent of Europe’s automated payments. Monitise is currently working with partners across the world, including Metavante in the United States and T-Systems in Germany, to create a single mobile banking and payments ecosystem for the global population.
Alastair Lukies, CEO OF MONILINK added: “The mobile phone is the world’s personal communications device and it’s only natural that consumers want to use it as the ‘remote control’ to essential services. Vodafone’s commitment to providing mobile banking services is a great step in ensuring that financial provision in the UK is as convenient and accessible as possible.
The service is free until the end of 2007. Apart from the lack of a hole to get cash from, it seems very similar to the services you already find on most ATMs in the UK.
Vodafone to launch secure SMS
Jul 9th
Link: Vodafone to Offer Encrypted SMS’s to Businesses
Vodafone UK has signed a reseller agreement with Broca, to provide a secure SMS messaging service. Broca’s flagship service, SAMS, is a patented technology which encrypts and protects traditional SMS messages.
Under the terms of the agreement, Vodafone will integrate SAMS into the messaging portfolio sold by its ‘Target’ sales division. As a value added messaging product SAMS will be used for secure messaging and data capture for corporate customers.
Interesting. Wonder how it works? I assume there’s a client application on the recipients handset that decrypts the message – or perhaps it works via a WAP push that directs the recipient to a secure website? Either way, it’s a step in the right direction for improving the security of SMS – an essential requirement if we’re going to see more use of messaging in the banking and financial sectors.
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