External business environment for Vodafone - Essay Example

Moreover, the government has established the authorities which facilitate the mobile operators and network in UK. Vodafone has developed very good relationships with the government authorities and company also promotes the aim of such governmental bodies. For example, in order to provide advice on the security of communications and electronic data, UK government has established CESG which is a Government’s National Technical Authority for information assurance (Vodafone-central). Moreover, Government has established awards and quality marks to improve the quality of mobile operators.

These rewards are independent from the regulations imposed by the Government. For example, Vodafone has recently won the award of quality mark for remote worker security solution (Vodafone-central). Economic The trends in GDP growth rate shows that GDP of UK has declined significantly in 2005. Although GDP growth rate improved in 2007 however, because of the financial crisis, GDP growth rate again declined in 2008. As the recession took on toll on telecommunication sector, Vodafone faced significant challenges and company reported total 500 layoffs throughout the UK to reduce the costs because of challenging economic conditions (The FT Times).

Figure: Economic Growth of GDP Source: Chamberlin, 2008 Social Mobile penetration in UK is above than European average and the mobile subscriptions are increasing because of the increasing penetration of consumers in business-oriented devices such as BlackBerry, iPhone etc. Therefore, the mobile phone operators are facing strong competition and concentrating on bundled offers, mobile searching and line service promotions (Budde, 2011). Vodafone also recognises the changing social patterns of consumers; therefore, company is competing by offering the products that may meet the social needs of consumers.

Vodafone has recently launched Betavine Social Exchange which is a site to provide mobile solutions in development and for social impact (Verclas, 2009). Technological UK telecommunication industry is characterised by many recent technological developments such as advanced data services, regulatory controls on the charges of the mobile operators and bundling of mobile services (Budde, 2011). To remain competitive in the market, Vodafone is significantly investing in research and development both in individual activities and in collaboration projects.

For example, Vodafone is collaborating with IBM to develop mobile private social network called BuddyCom. The current research of Vodafone is relevant to next generation of mobile technologies, new GSM based services, consumable software for mobile phones and electronic news media (Vodafone). Legal All telecom operators and providers in the UK are being regulated by two main laws including Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and the Telecommunications Act 1984 (Telemaster). Being one of the largest mobile operators, Vodafone is very considerate about legal framework.

The legal framework provides Vodafone to fairly compete in the market, however, company is also facing significant challenges. For example, the communication regulators in the UK have recently allowed the mobile operators to trade spectrum and the merged T-Mobile and Orange UK is expected to be the first operator to trade its spectrum. Actually the regulators have restricted the operators by specifying the operators to bid for the particular ranges of spectrum (Bradshaw, 2011). Environmental All mobile operators are