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Vodafone was born out of Racal Electronics Plc, which received a GSM licence in the UK in 1983. Vodafone demerged from Racal and was formed as an independent entity in September 1991. Vodafone Group has grown to its current size and status through acquiring operators and licences worldwide. Two major mergers have been central to the company's growth. Firstly, the merger with US-based AirTouch Communications in June 1999, and secondly, with German telecommunications company Mannesmann in April 2000.
Vodafone Group is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company with equity interests in 26 countries, which give it a significant presence in Europe, the US, and the Asia Pacific region. A number of Vodafone's joint-venture companies are covered in detail in separate Executive Briefings as part of the Network Operators Worldwide (NOW) service, including Arcor GmbH (Germany); Verizon Wireless (US); Belgacom Mobile (Belgium, as part of the Belgacom profile); SFR Cegetel (France); Swisscom Mobile (Switzerland); and, China Mobile (HK) (China).
The Group also has arrangements to market certain of its services in additional territories, through "Partner Networks", without the need for equity investment. The Partner Network arrangements extend to a further 14 countries. The Group provides a wide range of mobile telecommunications services, including voice and data telecommunications. The Group also has a controlling interest in a non-mobile telecomunications business in Germany.
At March 31, 2005, based on the registered customers of mobile telecommunications ventures in which it had ownership interests at that date, the Group had approximately 154.8 million customers, calculated on a proportionate basis in accordance with the Group's percentage interest in these ventures, and 431.8 million registered venture customers.
The vast majority of Vodafone's networks, being in Europe, are based on GSM technology, which has been upgraded to GPRS technology to enable the provision of improved mobile Internet and data services. In addition, the majority of Vodafone companies are also in the process of building UMTS networks in their respective operating regions.
Vodafone's ordinary shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and its ADSs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company had a total market capitalisation of approximately UK£94 billion at May 23, 2005.
As of May 23, 2005, The Bank of New York, as custodian of the Vodafone's American depositary receipt (ADR) programme, held approximately 12.5% of the company's ordinary shares, followed by The Capital Group Companies Inc with 7.92%.
