Today, Vodafone Group connects more than 175 million objects in 175 countries

Vodafone Turkey CEO Engin Aksoy stated, ‘Vodafone Group has become a technology company positioned as the world’s largest IoT service provider by connecting more than 175 million objects in 175 countries today.’ Vodafone Turkey CEO Engin Aksoy made exclusive statements to Ihlas News Agency (IHA). Engin Aksoy provided information about the company’s partnerships and their work in the field of digitalization while evaluating the results of the new fiscal year. ‘We continue our investments with confidence in the future of Turkey and our industry.’ Evaluating the results of the new fiscal year, Engin Aksoy said, ‘As a company, we continue our investments with confidence in the future of Turkey and our industry. According to the financial year results covering the period between April 2023 and March 2024, our service revenues amounted to 48.5 billion TL; our Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) reached 17.5 billion TL. Our mobile subscriber base reached 25.3 million, while our fixed broadband subscriber base reached 1.4 million. The number of postpaid subscribers also increased to 19.8 million. The monthly active customer base using our digital channels such as Vodafone Yanımda and Online Self Service was 16.9 million, and the total monthly interactions of these customers reached 404 million. During the fiscal year, our customers’ total mobile data usage increased by 20.1% compared to the same period last year, reaching 4,902 petabytes. We continued to develop in the field of digital services during this period. The number of visits to our online shopping platform Her Şey Yanımda approached 190 million. The total number of users using the products of our next-generation mobile finance solution Vodafone Pay reached 5.5 million. The monthly unique user count of our personal digital assistant TOBi, which can perform nearly a thousand different transactions, reached 10 million, and the monthly chat count reached 39 million.’ ‘We trained 2,000 digital ambassadors as part of the OSB Digital Transformation Program.’ Referring to the OSB Digital Transformation Program, Aksoy said, ‘As Vodafone Business, we aim to understand the digital knowledge level of OSBs, company executives, and employees, inform them about the current digital agenda, and become a reliable consultant for businesses across OSBs in Turkey. With this goal in mind, we launched the ‘OSB Digital Transformation Program’ last year in cooperation with the Organized Industrial Zones Higher Board (OSBÜK) and Yildiz Technical University (YTU) academics. Within the program; while we trained 1,000 digital ambassadors in the first year, the second phase of the program was restarted as of January this year. At the end of these three-month trainings, YTU academics and OSBÜK awarded certificates to over 1,000 additional participants, resulting in a total of 2,000 digital ambassadors being trained. In addition, we launched ‘Industry Transformation Meetings’ as a complementary part of this program. We are delighted to contribute to the digital transformation of businesses and industrial companies with this event series, which we see as a very important step taken for digital transformation in OSBs and businesses. We held the first Industry Transformation Meeting in February in Konya under the auspices of OSBÜK and the second one in May at Istanbul Leather OSB. With these meetings, our aim is to meet with industrialists located in key points of Anatolia, introduce them to new technological solutions, and help them adapt their business processes to the digital age in the competitive environment, making their companies’ operations suitable for the digital age and contributing to the sustainable and stable growth of industrial companies with the solutions we offer for their digital transformations,’ he said. ‘With the Industrial Digital Competence Analysis, we anticipate that 10,000 companies will measure their digital maturity scores in the first phase.’ Providing information about the Industrial Digital Competence Analysis, Aksoy said, ‘In the age of digitalization, it is crucial for businesses to adapt innovative technologies to their ways of doing business. For this, it is crucial that companies have high levels of digital maturity. In this context, it is critically important to measure the digital awareness level of the employees in our SMEs. In line with this, with the collaboration of Yildiz Technical University academics and the support of OSBÜK, we have prepared a scientific test that companies in the manufacturing industry can use to measure their own digital maturity levels. Our test, called the Industrial Digital Competence Analysis, includes questions in 6 different groups; our businesses, with a focus on the SME segment, will be able to take an x-ray of the areas in which they need to develop by learning their digital maturity levels. Thus, whatever areas these companies need to progress in, they can make a difference in these areas with Vodafone Business’s technology adoption and innovative solutions. At the end of the test, companies will receive a report that includes their digital maturity scores and recommendations on how to improve that score. With the Industrial Digital Competence Analysis, which will reveal crucial findings and roadmaps for companies in order to exist digitally in the era of increasing competition and digitalization, we anticipate that in the first phase, 10,000 companies will measure their digital maturity scores,’ he said. ‘Vodafone Group connects more than 175 million objects in 175 countries.’ Emphasizing investments in cloud and IoT, Aksoy said, ‘In the journey of digitalization, cloud technologies are one of our most important focal points. Our business partners can meet all the corporate needs that have recently come to the fore, such as remote working and management, ensuring business continuity, and keeping data secure, with the Data Center & Cloud solutions in our Vodafone Data Center portfolio. Our Virtual Server service, which consolidates servers in different locations under one roof, allows businesses to host their information, applications, and IT components on the backup cloud infrastructure consisting of servers in the Vodafone Data Center, independently and isolated from each other. Currently, with a total of five data centers; we, as Vodafone Business, also provide services to our businesses with our private and secure servers in the cloud field. In addition to this, we have joined forces with Edgnex Data Centres By DAMAC to establish a new data center in Izmir. With an investment of approximately 100 million dollars, this data center, when established, will become one of the largest-capacity data centers in Vodafone’s Aegean Region, reaching up to 6 megawatts. With the new center, the number of data centers in major cities in Turkey belonging to Vodafone will reach six, and the white space will increase to 13,500 square meters. Earlier this year, Vodafone Group announced a 10-year major strategic partnership with Microsoft. Within the scope of this collaboration, the aim is to transform digital services for more than 300 million businesses, public sector organizations, and consumers in Europe and Africa. Our group also plans to invest 1.5 billion dollars over the next 10 years in cloud and artificial intelligence services developed in collaboration with Microsoft and also using Vodafone’s connectivity services. Today, Vodafone Group has become a technology company positioned as the world’s largest IoT service provider by connecting more than 175 million objects in 175 countries. With the strength we receive from our group, as Vodafone Business, we position ourselves not only as a telecommunications company but also as a digital business partner and technology consultant that responds to all the technological needs of businesses with our innovations,’ he said. Highlighting cybersecurity, Aksoy said, ‘At Vodafone Business, we attach great importance to managing our customers’ critical applications seamlessly, securely, and efficiently. At the forefront of the most critical issues right now is cybersecurity, and we guide our companies with a proactive approach in this field. We have structured our cybersecurity solution portfolio around four main action axes: Measure, Protect, Detect, and Respond. In line with our goal of ensuring business continuity for our customers, we launched our Cyber Security Operations Center at Vodafone Turkey Ankara Center, which we opened in the past months. At our Cyber Security Operations Centers, where we can monitor, report, and instantly intervene in cyber incidents in businesses 24/7 with more than 300 metrics, our SoC teams help analyze incidents quickly, minimize losses for businesses, reduce exploited security vulnerabilities, and take measures against future attacks,’ he said. ‘In Turkey, we provide Emergency Call System service to more than 1 million vehicles.’ Engin Aksoy concluded his words by saying: ‘Today, digitization and IoT technologies are at the forefront of all sectors. The automotive sector is also one of the sectors making the most advancements in this field. Connected vehicles, which integrate IoT, artificial intelligence, sensors, and other communication protocols, enabling inter-vehicle and environmental interaction, are one of the most innovative technologies of today that improve driver safety and enhance user experience by making it easier to collect in-vehicle data and perform software updates remotely. Right now, as Vodafone Business, we provide Emergency Call System (e-Call) service to more than 1 million vehicles in a total of 37 different car brands in Turkey. In addition, we offer e-SIM solutions in more than 300,000 vehicles, and with our infrastructure in 35,000 vehicles, we breathe new life into the driving experiences of drivers and passengers with our Connected Car solution. As Vodafone Business, while leading businesses in their digitization, I can say that our investment share in this area will increase even more in the upcoming period.’