Vodafone Group plc and Huawei have opened up a laboratory in Italy to drive innovation in the core network in order to benefit customers. This Core Network Innovation Centre (CIC) in Milan is equipped with the latest Huawei mobile and core network equipment and technologies to boost innovation in core network solutions. Their collaborative research will aim to give both Vodafone and Huawei a competitive edge in core network areas, such as Mobile Broadband, IMS (IP Multimedia Sub-system) and FMC (Fixed Mobile Convergence), eventually bringing new ideas to fruition, enabling timely market launches.

Vodafone Group plc announced, together with Chunghwa Telecom Co. Ltd. that the two companies have signed an agreement which will provide Chunghwa with access to a range of products, services and devices from Vodafone. Chunghwa will also be able to draw on Vodafone's experience in supply chain management, technology development, the acquisition of enterprise customers as well as improved inter-working between networks. In return, Vodafone will now be able to offer its customers a range of services, which utilise 'home' network capabilities as well as extended coverage within Taiwan. The two companies will provide additional support to Vodafone Global Enterprise customers, who have a presence in the region and will, in the future, be able to benefit from added Vodafone business solutions such as Vodafone Mobile Broadband and BlackBerry from Vodafone. The agreement extends Vodafone's presence in Asia, building on its existing relationships with China Mobile, SmarTone-Vodafone in Hong Kong, M1 in Singapore, Celcom in Malaysia, Dialog in Sri Lanka, dtac in Thailand, SoftBank in Japan, and Vodafone Fiji plus Vodafone's existing operations in India, Australia and New Zealand.

Vodafone Group plc is planning to hit the acquisition trail in 2012. Vittorio Colao, chief executive of the firm said that £500 million of the savings would be set aside, and could be used as a potential acquisition war chest “depending on the economic situation.”