Vodafone: ‘We’re screwing this up’
February 26, 2019
Nick Snow @ MWC
Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone, told MWC in Barcelona that European MNOs are in danger of wasting the digital media opportunity.
He said: “Our reputation with consumers is just ahead of the tobacco companies, and we only have ourselves to blame for the activities of regulators [enforcing free roaming] given the protectionist approach that has been adopted.”
“We are operating the ‘sector or sectors’ this is understood in the US and Asia but not Europe. There should be much more collaboration between operators. We want to build a collaborative model with like-minded operators…those who share our vision.”
He said Vodafone were actively looking for more 5G net sharing deals to add those with Telecom Italia and EE UK.
On a common theme of MWC, Read also lamented the low number of infrastructure suppliers he could choose from “we need greater choice and resilience.”