Vodacom Group, a pan-African technology and telecoms business, announced a strategic partnership with Google Cloud to leverage Google Cloud’s advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) product portfolio to accelerate its digital transformation.
The partnership will improve Vodacom’s core offerings and provide a strong foundation for developing innovative, disruptive goods and services that are especially suited to the African market.
According to the conditions of the partnership, Vodacom will use Google Cloud’s scalable and secure infrastructure to combine its enormous data assets before implementing generative AI models, such as Gemini, Veo, and Imagen, throughout its operations.
Vodacom will benefit from increased operational efficiency as a result, and African customers will receive new AI-powered services.
“This collaboration is more than a technology upgrade; it is a deep commitment to Africa’s digital revolution,”
said Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom.
“Integrating Google Cloud’s data and AI solutions into our business will modernize our infrastructure and fundamentally shift our operational paradigm. This collaboration is essential for us to build and deploy solutions that address the unique challenges and opportunities of the continent, ensuring the transformative power of AI is accessible to millions of customers and businesses across Africa.”
Maureen Costello, Vice President, UKI and SSA, Google Cloud said,
“Google Cloud is proud to support Vodacom in accelerating AI across Africa. By providing access to our most advanced generative AI models from Gemini and our leading data infrastructure, we are supporting Vodacom’s ambitious vision to build technology solutions that improve the lives of Africans.”
Vodacom plans to integrate and move its essential data platforms, including BigQuery, onto Google Cloud’s data cloud. As a result, Vodacom can obtain improved data governance, real-time analytics, and a single, safe source of truth for business decisions. Large-scale AI model deployment requires this basis.
Vodacom will concentrate on creating innovative solutions for the African market by utilizing Google Cloud’s AI capabilities. Developing enterprise solutions, building consumer experiences to enhance content accessibility and education, and developing new fintech services for increased financial inclusion are among the initial priority areas.