Vodafone and e& pitch international voice service to other operators

VoLTE adoption will increase to over 70% of global mobile connections by 2030, according to some cited GSMA forecasting, a trend which is fuelled by operators needing to maintain trans-border managed voice services as they embark on the process of switching off legacy networks in favour of 5G.

What Vodafone and e& with their collective footprint are trying to sell other operators is ‘predictable costs (no matter the region), optimised inbound revenues, streamlined regulatory compliance, enhanced fraud protection, and seamless integration of innovative services through a leading cloud-based architecture.’ They are also offering enhanced fraud protection based on some AI and ML systems.

“Managing cross-border voice is increasingly complex due to new regulations, providing protection against international scams, and the need to migrate to 5G services,” said Ninian Wilson, CEO of Vodafone Procurement and Connectivity. “Operators are seeking trusted partners to navigate these changes, while growing their businesses. Vodafone’s strategic partnership with e& offers them a single point of contact and a dependable service globally during this transition to support them in managing changing business complexities.”

Nabil Baccouche, Group Chief Carrier & Wholesale Officer, e& added: “This collaboration between Vodafone and e& sets a new industry benchmark, extending beyond predictable cost and improved security. It focuses on empowering operators to confidently adapt to the evolving voice landscape.

“By leveraging our established capabilities, state of the art platforms, and extensive industry knowledge, we provide operators with a definite way to achieve operational excellence. Working together, e& and Vodafone grant operators’ easy access to our combined skills and worldwide presence, enabling them to provide cutting-edge voice services, thereby seamlessly transforming their businesses for the future.”

It’s not the first evidence of the two firms generating some combined products for the market. In October last year it was announced they will provide software-defined, wide-area networking (SD-WAN) services to Al Futtaim Group – a Dubai-based multinational conglomerate with interests in the automotive, financial services, real estate, retail, and health sectors.

Whatever appetite there is from other operators for this VoLTE service remains to be seen, but the fanfare in the release seems to be as much about the partnership between the two firms than it is about the specific product offering – a partnership that has developed alongside E& snapping up an increasing amount of Vodafone shares in recent years.