After its exit from the Verizon Wireless venture, Vodafone Group Plc's next chapter, according to its CEO Vittorio Colao, would be the expansion of services and fortification of the company's presence in areas where it operates.
Vodafone is the second biggest mobile phone carrier in the world and it has dubbed this new era as 'Project Spring'. It said it would be using about USD10 billion from the exit for upgrades in order to provide faster fourth generation wireless coverage in 90% of its five biggest markets throughout Europe in 2017.
According to Colao during a conference call, "Now is the time for Vodafone to step up its investment and move ahead of the pack. We expect the number of people using video on their smartphones to double over the next three years. We see average data consumption on 4G, where we have 4G working, running at twice the level of 3G."
After the USD130 billion sale, Verizon Communications Inc would retain USD30 billion in cash. The deal is the apex of Colao's restructuring of the company. These activiities include dissolution of partnerships where it is not the controlling interest and its focus now on emerging markets, to boost data and unified services. These are what he termed as 'chapters one and two' of Vodafone's 'evolution'.
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