Vodafone pointing partners towards IoT and 5G opportunities

Vodafone has signaled to partners that it is investing and preparing for the opportunities that will emerge from the growth of IoT and the roll out of 5G.

The comms vendor held its partner event in London last week and used the forum as an opportunity to highlight where it felt the market was heading.

It also used the event to thank the channel for the contribution that it makes to the business with partners making a impact over the last year, with double-digit growth in fixed, a tenfold increase in partners selling One Net and the quadrupling of One Net Business sales.  .

Helen Freestone, director of partnerships and alliances at Vodafone UK, said that the channel has increased significantly its business over the last year and it was making sure it was up to speed on where the future business would be coming from.

"We couldn't have done it without our partner community," she added that it was keen to help them identify opportunities in their existing user base.

"IoT has a lot of partner interest and it is really starting to change the conversation and partners are getting in much higher and wider with customers," she said.

The interest that partners are showing in the firm's IoT proposition meant that the vendor is looking at setting up a number of workshops to provide more guidance.

The other area which pricked up the ears of the channel was the prospects for 5G. Vodafone has invested millions in its network capabilities and plans to put even more behind its infrastructure and has been committed to ensuring it has a strong position with 5G.

"5G does make things go quicker, better and faster helping boyts and AI acceleration," she added "It is very hard to predict what;s coming down the line but we are commited to the future and have invested in it and are invested in that community."

Freestone said that the feedback it recieved from the channel continues to shape its programmes and thanked partners for the support they had given her personally.

"I'm just over a year in this role I have continually had the support and guidance from partners," she said.