Vodafone made the UK's first mobile call at a few minutes past midnight on 1985-01-01. Vodafone UK made its first 3G voice call, on the 16 April 2001.
Vodafone stands for VOice-DAta-FONE.
Vodafone has 120 million, primarily GSM, subscribers in 28 countries. Until 2002 it was the largest mobile phone company in the world; however, it is now the world's second largest after China Mobile.
In the United States, Vodafone owns 44% of Verizon Wireless, the country's largest mobile carrier. However, the phone company Verizon owns a majority of Verizon Wireless and Vodafone's branding is not used, nor is the network compatible with GSM phones.
In the year 2000, Vodafone took over German mobile network operator Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmBH & Co KG. The deal still is one of the largest in European history.
In 2001 Vodafone took over Eircell in Ireland and rebranded it Vodafone Ireland.
On October 1st 2003 Vodafone's Japanese unit J-Phone dropped its brandname in favor of the globally recognized 'Vodafone'.
