According to the Smart Finance APP, global telecommunications giant Vodafone (VOD.US) and Google under Alphabet (GOOGL.US) announced today a ten-year strategic expansion of their existing partnership. With the support of Google Cloud and Google's Gemini AI chatbot, they will bring new services, devices, and television experiences to millions of Vodafone customers in Europe and Africa.

Vodafone will promote Google's cloud storage subscription services, including Google One AI Premium services that can access Gemini chatbots. Vodafone stated that it will expand Google Pixel AI devices' access in Europe through its 5G network and continue to promote the Android ecosystem. This UK-based operator will also showcase to customers how to use the latest AI features of Pixel devices in stores.

In its statement, Vodafone mentioned that the company will enhance its Vodafone TV Box service's search, recommendation, and ad targeting capabilities using Google's technology and develop a new cloud cybersecurity product for enterprise users. Vodafone will also leverage Google Cloud's enterprise AI platform as part of expanding the partnership.

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, said: "Partly because as AI becomes more prominent on devices, the nature of the devices and the experience people have on devices will change." Google and Vodafone are working hard to make it extremely easy for people to experience these and make purchasing decisions.

Vodafone Group CEO Margherita Della Valle said: "Vodafone and Google will work together to deliver new AI content and devices to millions of consumers. Through these services, our customers can discover new ways to learn, create, communicate, and watch TV at an unprecedented scale."

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai stated: "Expanding our partnership with Vodafone will help bring our most advanced AI products and services (including our Gemini model) to more people in Europe and Africa. I am excited to see how Vodafone's consumers, small businesses, and government entities will use generative AI and Google Cloud to transform their work and information access."

Telecom operators have always been focusing on diversifying their revenue sources by providing digital services beyond connectivity. In this process, they are trying to emulate the successful experiences of large technology giants, which have accumulated huge profits when many operators were in trouble.

Global technology companies are all competing to attract customers to use new generative AI features to upgrade smartphones. Apple (AAPL.US), Google, Samsung, and other companies have introduced a set of AI-driven visual, text, and audio features. Google is engaged in an AI competition with companies like OpenAI, which is supported by Microsoft (MSFT.US) and NVIDIA (NVDA.US).