Overview
On 1 January 1985, Michael Harrison, son of Racal Electronics chairman Sir Ernest Harrison, made the first call on the new Vodafone network, from St Katharine Docks in London to Racal's offices in Newbury. It was the first commercial mobile call in the United Kingdom.
Vodafone Group Plc (LSE: VOD, Nasdaq ADRs: VOD) grew from that network into an international operator through the 1999 AirTouch purchase and the 2000 Mannesmann takeover, then spent the following two decades selling and reshaping much of what it had bought. Today its main businesses are Vodafone Germany, VodafoneThree in the UK, Vodafone Business, and Vodacom in Africa, alongside a stake in Kenya's Safaricom. In the year to 31 March 2026 it reported total revenue of ~$45.8 billion (€40.5 billion).
Origins inside Racal
Racal Electronics was a British maker of military radio equipment. In 1982 Racal Strategic Radio, working with Millicom, won one of the UK's two cellular licences; the other went to Cellnet, part-owned by British Telecom. Gerry Whent ran the venture, and the network was named Vodafone, short for voice, data and phone.
Racal floated about 20% of Racal Telecom on the London Stock Exchange in 1988 and fully demerged it in 1991 as Vodafone Group. Whent stayed as chief executive until the end of 1996.
AirTouch and Mannesmann
Chris Gent became chief executive in 1997. In 1999 Vodafone bought US operator AirTouch Communications for about $62 billion and then combined its US assets with Bell Atlantic's to form Verizon Wireless, keeping a 45% stake.
Later in 1999 Vodafone AirTouch launched a hostile all-share bid for Germany's Mannesmann. The bid met strong opposition in Germany, but Mannesmann's board accepted in February 2000 at a value of roughly $148 billion (£112 billion). The deal brought the D2 mobile network in Germany and control of Omnitel in Italy.
Verizon exit and cable networks
Under Vittorio Colao, Vodafone sold its Verizon Wireless stake to Verizon for $130 billion in a deal agreed in 2013 and completed in 2014. It then bought cable networks: Kabel Deutschland in 2013, Ono in Spain in 2014, and Liberty Global's German, Czech, Hungarian and Romanian operations, completed in 2019 for an enterprise value of about $20.8 billion (€18.4 billion).
The Della Valle reset
Margherita Della Valle, who joined Omnitel in Italy in 1994 and was Group CFO from 2018, became permanent chief executive in April 2023. Her plan has three parts:
- Fewer markets: Vodafone Spain was sold to Zegona for up to $5.65 billion (€5.0 billion) (completed May 2024) and Vodafone Italy to Swisscom for ~$9.04 billion (€8.0 billion) (completed at the end of 2024), with proceeds used to cut debt and buy back shares.
- UK scale: Vodafone UK and Three UK combined in 2025 as VodafoneThree, 51% owned by Vodafone and 49% by CK Hutchison, with a ~$14.5 billion (£11 billion) ten-year network investment commitment accepted by the CMA.
- Simpler structure: around 11,000 job cuts announced in 2023 and more focus on Germany, Vodafone Business and Africa.
Where it stands
In FY26 (year to 31 March 2026) Vodafone reported total revenue of ~$45.8 billion (€40.5 billion), up 8.0%, adjusted EBITDAaL of ~$12.9 billion (€11.4 billion) and adjusted free cash flow of about $2.94 billion (€2.6 billion), with VodafoneThree consolidated from 1 June 2025. The main open questions are whether Germany returns to steady growth, how well the UK integration goes, and how much Vodacom and Safaricom can add through M-Pesa financial services.
