From left: Vodafone Ireland CEO Amanda Nelson, network director, Sheila Kavanagh and Umlaut global networks lead Hakan Ekmen. Image: Naoise Culhane
The company said it completed a €300m investment over the past three years, while the fresh funding will boost its network reliability and 3G phase-out.
Vodafone Ireland said it will invest €500m over the next five years to enhance its national services.
The telecoms company said this funding will enhance its call and text reliability, along with superfast 4G, 5G and wider high-definition voice coverage.
This five-year investment will also phase Vodafone’s 3G services onto its “stronger and more sustainable” 4G and 5G networks. Vodafone revealed plans to phase out its older 3G service last year.
The company said the new funding follows a previously unannounced investment of €300m over the past three years.
The investment comes as Vodafone said it received the Best in Test award by Umlaut, an engineering consulting company that is part of Accenture.
According to Vodafone, this is the 8th year in a row it has received this title. It also scored the highest this year in Best in Reliability, Best in Voice and Best in Crowd-Sourced Quality.
Vodafone Ireland CEO Amanda Nelson said the recognition is aligned with the company’s ambition to “provide the best and most reliable level of network coverage around the country for our customers”.
“Umlaut’s methodology really focuses on the customer experience and for that we are truly proud to be Best in Reliability in Ireland,” Nelson said.
“That said, our work is never done, and even in challenging times for the industry we are continuing to invest to futureproof our network using smart technologies and solutions to the benefit of all our partners and customers.”
Amid Vodafone’s big investment plans for Ireland, the global company has taken steps to become a “leaner and simpler organisation” under the leadership of its new CEO Margherita Della Valle.
Earlier this month, Vodafone revealed plans to cut 11,000 jobs globally over the next three years, as the company reported a performance slowdown. The company employs more than 2,000 people directly and indirectly in Ireland.
Della Valle said the company’s performance had “not been good enough” and that resources would be reallocated “to deliver the quality service our customers expect”.
“My priorities are customers, simplicity and growth,” Della Valle said. “We will simplify our organisation, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness.”
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