Vodafone GmbH is a telecommunications operator in Germany owned by Vodafone Group Plc and headquartered in Düsseldorf. It provides mobile phone, LTE, 5G, cable internet, landlines, cable TV, and IPTV services. As of the third quarter of 2021, Vodafone GmbH has more than 31 million mobile customers in Germany, making it the third-largest provider of mobile phone services in Germany.[2] The company's headquarters are in the suburb of Heerdt in Düsseldorf, with regional offices throughout Germany. Vodafone Germany's main competitors are 1&1 Mobilfunk, Telekom Deutschland (Deutsche Telekom's German private customer unit) and Telefónica Germany.
 | |
 Vodafone Deutschland's headquarters in Düsseldorf | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1990 (as Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH) 2002 (as Vodafone D2 GmbH) |
| Headquarters | Düsseldorf, Germany |
Key people | Marcel de Groot (CEO) |
| Products | Prepaid and postpaid mobile phones, DSL, IPTV, cable internet, cable television |
| Revenue | 11,616,000,000 Euro (2022)  |
Number of employees | 16,000[1] |
| Parent | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Website | vodafone |
Vodafone Germany's network serves both prepaid and postpaid customers on GSM and LTE (Long Term Evolution). In July 2019, Vodafone started providing 5G services.[3] At the end of 2010, Vodafone had 36.676 million mobile phone or mobile internet customers and 3.945 million customers with a DSL / VDSL connection.[4]
History
editThe company in its present form resulted from Vodafone's takeover of the German engineering group Mannesmann GmbH in 2000. On 8 December 1989, the West German Federal Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications (de; one of several predecessors of the present-day Bundesnetzagentur) awarded the second digital GSM-900 (also known as D-Netz (de; D-Network in Germany) network in Germany to Mannesmann, as the first private company in Germany to break the monopoly of the telecommunications services operated by Deutsche Bundespost (now Deutsche Telekom). This licence was subsequently expanded to cover the former East Germany after German reunification in 1991. Mannesmann subsequently began operations of its mobile network on 30 June 1992. It was rebranded Vodafone D2 in 2002.
In February 2011, Vodafone Germany started providing IPTV via DSL and VDSL connections. In April 2011,[5] Vodafone Germany started to distribute Disney content via IPTV.[6]
Following Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Germany started selling the Apple iPhone 4S in September 2011.[7]
As of 2014, the company owns around 75% of Kabel Deutschland and in 2019 Unitymedia was merged with Vodafone.
In February 2020, the Unitymedia brand was phased out from market, by Vodafone Germany.[8]
Sponsoring
editThe company sponsored the AMG-Mercedes team in the FIA GT Championship,[9] both Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft[10] and Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters,[11] 24 Hours of Le Mans under the D2 naming.
The company also sponsors RAM Racing in the British GT Championship[12] and the Gulf 12 Hours.[13][14]
References
edit- ^ "Portrait Vodafone Deutschland Wir sind die Gigabit-Company". Vodafone. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
- ^ "Vodafone Deutschland Finanzkennzahlen Quartal 03/2021" (PDF). Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "5G-Handy-Netz von Vodafone: Jetzt auf Deinem Smartphone". 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
- ^ "Vodafone in Deutschland auf Wachtstumskurs / + 238000 DSL Kunden". Vodafone-angebote-news.de. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "Vodafone TV - Digitales Fernsehen IPTV per Vodafone DSL / VDSL Tarif". Vodafone-iptv.de. 30 April 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "Local media contacts". Vodafone. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "Apple iPhone 5 im Test: Benchmarks, Daten, Tipps und Tricks". Netzwelt (in German). Retrieved 11 January 2022.
- ^ "Vodafone Germany pulls Unitymedia brand". telecompaper. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ Simanaitis, Dennis; Millen, Steve (4 March 2016). "Driving the Championship Winning Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR". Road & Track. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ "MULI1196, MB C-Klasse Tourenwagen DTM, Siegerwagen Ludwig ´94". marsMediaSite. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ "Gallery: Mercedes DTM cars through the years". Top Gear. 27 July 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ "BRSCC | SENSATIONAL BRITISH GT OPENER IN STORE AT OULTON PARK". Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ "Tillbrook joins British GT title rival Loggie for Gulf 12 Hours assault with RAM". Tillbrook joins British GT title rival Loggie for Gulf 12 Hours assault with RAM. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ^ "RAM Racing Bring Classic Mercedes AMG Livery To Gulf 12 Hours | dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 10 April 2023.