Vodafone CEO says developing digital infrastructure 'prerequisite' for Irish competitiveness

Cork Chamber CEO Conor Healy; guest speaker, Vodafone Ireland CEO Sabrina Casalta; Irish Examiner managing director Karen O'Donoghue; Cork Chamber president Rob Horgan, RDJ LLP partner Ashling Walsh at the Chamber Business Breakfast held at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Tuesday. Picture: David Creedon

Developing Ireland’s digital communications infrastructure is a "prerequisite" if Ireland is to maintain future global competitiveness, the chief executive of Vodafone Ireland told business leaders on Tuesday.

Vodafone Ireland chief executive Sabrina Casalta was speaking at a packed Cork Chamber Business Breakfast at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Ms Casalta was appointed in May as the company’s CEO of Irish operations, having previously served as the interim CEO and chief financial officer of Vodafone Italy.

“From reading the National Development Plan and also getting to know Cork Chamber and what you are all advocating for, there is a strong demand in Ireland for developing and bringing the infrastructure to the next level. So we talk about housing, electricity, water, transport. From my perspective communications is a prerequisite," she said. "If we want to really develop infrastructures that are modern and future-proof and support the competitiveness of the country, they need to be connected, smart, and digital.

“We cannot think about transport if we cannot connect them and making sure that, for example, there is real-time information about transport timing for citizens. We cannot think about a sustainable way of developing electricity or water infrastructure if we are not able to monitor them real time; maybe to intervene on some part of the infrastructure remotely and to get data again to improve efficiency and effectiveness.

“I really believe that digital and telecommunication infrastructure are at the heart of the competitiveness.” 

Ms Casalta said that with Ireland assuming the EU presidency, the regulatory framework for telecommunications in Ireland and in  Europe must be modernised to ensure competitiveness, warning that the US and Asian economies were growing faster than in Europe amid slower adoption of digital technologies.

She said Vodafone Ireland has invested €30m in Cork in the last five years. “I don't think we can compromise on quality and excellence if you want to win and be successful in a competitive market, a market where there are new players coming in, where the business model sometimes changes, where customers need change,” said Ms Casalta.

“Excellence requires investment. Vodafone Ireland has invested around €2bn in the country in the last 10 years, through direct investment in our mobile infrastructure and also through the partnership with ESB for Siro that has brought fibre directly to the house in roughly one third of the country. And we are committed to keep investing.” 

Ms Casalta said that Vodafone is successfully adapting AI into its services. “We are investing roughly €10m in our customer care capability, to really make sure that using artificial intelligence, we are extremely effective in solving customer problems. We were the first in the country to launch a 24-hour server customer care services, leveraging AI.

“Tobi, our tool that is powered by AI, is directly handling 60% of the inquiries that we get from the customer. And 85% of the customer requests are solved with the first call. And for me, the most important indicator is that we, year over year, have reduced by 50% the number of calls that we get from the customer. This is consistent proof that investing in quality, excellence, and customer relationship pay off in terms of recognition and excellence.”

Ms Casalta said that Vodafone was the first company to roll out 3G, 4G, and 5G networks in Ireland. "Last year we were the first one to shut down last year the 3G network. That might seem kind of controversial, reducing the service, but actually it was an innovative way to free up resources, to improve the performance on 4G and 5G, and again, give a better experience and a better service to our customer with the same resources - spectrum and frequencies that we use to provide a service. Innovating and moving on is the only way to become more efficient and more effective with the input that we can rely on."

Last summer, Vodafone launched a real-time text solution allowing people who are hard of hearing to communicate real-time with emergency and 'blue-line' services, through media translation of text into a message.

Ms Casalta said integrating satellite connectivity into its services is the next stage of telecommunications development in Ireland. "It means that if we need to get satellite connection, we don't need a dedicated device or an antenna, but our smartphone will connect into it in a seamless way."