
Vodafone is set to scrap its European data centres after Britain’s biggest telecoms firm unveiled a major new cloud partnership with Microsoft that includes new AI functionality.
The 10-year, $1.5 billion agreement will see Vodafone replace many of its European data centres with 'virtual' ones operated by Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform on top of the introduction of a range of AI-powered services to customers, while Microsoft will invest in Vodafone's standalone Internet of Things platform and use Vodafone’s fixed and mobile connectivity services. Vodafone also hopes to be able to use the deal to scale its African fintech platform, M-Pesa.