Britain’s multinational telecommunications company Vodafone Group plc (GB:VOD) has entered into a ten-year strategic deal with American tech giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT). The deal, valued at $1.5 billion, envisages mutual benefit for both parties, including bringing artificial intelligence (AI), digital solutions, enterprise, and cloud services to over 300 million businesses and consumers across Europe and Africa.
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Details About Vodafone and Microsoft’s Deal
To begin with, Vodafone will adopt Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and CoPilot solutions to provide seamless, real-time, and more personalized experiences to its customers. The software will also be used in Vodafone’s chatbot, TOBi. Moreover, Vodafone employees will be able to use Microsoft’s AI software to improve their working capabilities and boost productivity and digital efficiency. The partnership is poised to further the digital transformation of small and medium enterprises.
Further, Microsoft intends to invest in Vodafone’s Internet of Things (IoT) managed connectivity platform when it is spun off as a standalone business in April this year. The platform connects 175 million devices and platforms globally.
Moreover, Microsoft will help Vodafone scale its M-Pesa financial technology platform in Africa by teaming it with Azure and enabling new cloud-native applications. Finally, Vodafone will modernize its data centers on Microsoft Azure and replace several physical data centers with scalable Azure Cloud services.
Let us look at analysts’ reviews for these two stocks.
Is Vodafone a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
On TipRanks, VOD stock has a Hold consensus rating based on four Buys, four Holds, and two Sell ratings. The Vodafone Group Plc share price target of 98.30p implies 45.8% upside potential from current levels. VOD shares have lost 27% in the past year.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
With 36 Buys and one Hold, MSFT stock commands a Strong Buy consensus rating on TipRanks. The Microsoft Corp. share price target of $429.15 implies 10.5% upside potential from current levels.
