Key takeaways:
- Vodafone plans to combine crypto wallets with SIM cards to introduce blockchain technology to smartphone consumers.
- In order to provide Vodafone’s clients with generative AI capabilities, the business and Microsoft engaged in a 10-year strategic agreement.
Vodafone, a telecommunications company based in the United Kingdom, plans to combine cryptocurrency wallets with subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to introduce blockchain technology to smartphone consumers.
This ambitious initiative coincides with a firm finance plan that purports to take on over $3 billion in debt, including $1.8 billion in loans over the next two years, by Vodafone Idea, a separate company operating in India, in which the Vodafone Group owns a 45% stake.
Vodafone Blockchain Lead David Palmer talked about the company’s intentions to incorporate blockchain technology into smartphone SIM cards in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance Future Focus:
“By 2030 we’re expecting more than 20 billion mobile phones to be in operation, many of those being smartphones. We’ve focused on linking the sim card to digital identity, linking the sim card to blockchains, and using the cryptography we have in those sim cards for that integration.”
Palmer provided more details on the numbers he had shown, estimating that by 2030, there will be almost eight billion cell phones in circulation and 5.6 billion cryptocurrency wallets, which would represent over 70% of the world’s population.
Vodafone Group has had a busy 2024 despite the financial squabbling with India-based Vodafone Idea, which recently sold off $2.2 billion worth of shares ahead of a debt-raising scheme worth a whopping $3 billion.
In order to provide Vodafone’s clients with generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, the business and Microsoft engaged in a 10-year strategic agreement.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella used the acquisition announcement to highlight the disruptive qualities of his company’s AI technology, claiming that the next generation of AI will open up enormous new potential for all businesses worldwide.
This is not the first time a business has attempted to integrate blockchain hardware with mobile technology. The goal of American startup VaultTel was to develop a physical wallet that could fit into the SIM slot of a smartphone back in 2019.
