...ensure leadership in the rapidly growing market for high-speed internet services in its UK home market. The challenge for the company was that the development of new technologies for voice, data and video transmission was blurring the boundaries among traditional industries and forcing reconsideration of what was required for a strategy of ‘total communications. This growth in demand for new services had attracted the interest not only of Vodafone’s traditional competitors in the telephone industry, but also from other communications companies such as Virgin Media ((the largest cable operator in the UK) and Sky Broadcasting which was the UK’s largest provider of satellite-based television. Other new competitors included the largest UK retailer of mobile phones and services, Carphone Warehouse and suppliers such as Apple (iTunes) and Nokia (Ovi) which had been investing heavily in digital content. Google was also increasingly involved in the communications field with a new, open, mobile operating system, Android and investments in mobile search and advertising. In addition to changes in competition, Vodafone and other operators faced rapid changes in technology with the growth of IP (internet protocol allowing voice, data and video to be digitised for high-speed distribution over multiple networks), the emergence of new broadcasting technology such as Wi-MAX (extended Wi-Fi), and the continued upgrading of speeds over fixed and mobile networks. The UK was also switching to digital...
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