| Vodafone at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Vodafone Group Plc. |
| Established: | 1982 |
| Proportionate revenue: | £39,446 million (year ending 31 March, 2004) |
| Proportionate EBITDA | £15,114 million (year ending 31 March, 2004) |
| Employees: | Average of 60,000 for year ending 31 March, 2004 |
| Customer base: | Approximately 165 million registered proportionate customers and approximately 450.9 million total venture customers as of June 30, 2005. |
| Global network: | Equity interests in 27 countries Partner networks in a further 14 countries |
| Head office: | Vodafone House The Connection Newbury RG14 2FN England Tel: +44 (0) 163 533 251 Fax: +44 (0) 163 545 7138 |
Oskar became part of the Vodafone family on 1 June, 2005.
Vodafone is the largest mobile operator in the world. It has equity interests in 27 countries across five continents, not to mention partners in a further 14 countries. In fact at last count in June 2005, they recorded approximately 165 million proportionate customers. That's a lot of connected people - so you can be sure you will never be short of people to chat to!
Vodafone was granted a license in the UK way back in 1983. But the tale really starts to get juicy in January 1985 when the first ever call was made on the network. Back then mobiles were machines just for making phone calls and in those days even that was pretty impressive – despite the fact phones tended to be the size of a small car. Luckily for us - and for our pockets - Vodafone continued to push developments forward.
One of the most exciting breakthroughs came in 1991 when the signal went on its first trip abroad to Finland and roaming was born. Or take SMS, which was first sent over the digital network in the UK in 1994, thanks to Vodafone.
Then in 2002 came Vodafone live! This was a bit like the arrival of colour television after years of black and white - now nobody can imagine life without it.
The adventure continues with 3G technology. Nobody really knows where this will lead but we know it's definitely not the end of this story.
