blog You might have noticed that there’s a decidedly positive tenor to the announcements which ailing mobile telco Vodafone Australia has been making recently. The company’s leadership in 4G mobile broadband speeds, its appointment of a qualified executive from Europe to replace outgoing leader Bill Morrow, and this morning, the news that it has a million customers on its 4G network. In an article for Delimiter 2.0 (paywalled), I examine the situation as a whole and try and put a signal post into the ground as to where Vodafone is right now. A few sample paragraphs:
“The easiest way to view the departure of Vodafone Australia’s turnaround specialist Bill Morrow to take the reins of NBN Co is as the final nail in the extremely troubled mobile telco’s fortunes. But the truth is that Morrow is leaving the company just as it’s getting to its knees again. Finally, after three years in the wilderness, Vodafone is showing signs that it may be competitive in Australia’s mobile landscape again — and heading towards a sustainable footing.
Almost exactly three years ago, the Australian division of mobile telco Vodafone faced a crisis of what could only be described as epic proportions … There is no doubt that Vodafone will never be able to forget the Vodafail episode. It will live on in the company’s corporate memory forever; as the term Vodafail will continue to exist like a dormant virus on the nation’s social networks.
However, with a trio of announcements over the past week, Vodafone has signalled that, even if it has not quite exorcised the stigma of the episode, at the very least the billions of dollars it has ploughed into network and customer service improvements over the past three years is helping it to turn the corner.”
Click here to check out the full article.
Image: NRMA New Cars, Creative Commons