VodafoneThree has lifted its annual cost-synergy target from £700 million to £1 billion (US$1.3 billion) by fiscal year 2032, group CEO Margherita Della Valle said in a briefing note to investors.

The UK operator, which started as a joint venture between Vodafone and CK Hutchison and became wholly owned by Vodafone in May, originally targeted £700 million ($924 million) in annual savings by FY30. The new £1 billion goal pushes the deadline out two years and raises the savings ceiling by 43%.

"After a strong start, we now have even greater confidence in the opportunity ahead," Della Valle said. "That's why we are upgrading our cost target to £1 billion, with VodafoneThree set to become an increasingly important contributor to Vodafone's growth ambitions."

What's driving the upgrade?

The boost reflects early traction on integration between the former Three UK and Vodafone UK businesses, which combined radio access networks, IT systems and back-office functions after regulatory clearance last year. Vodafone took sole control of the merged entity less than a year after formation, buying out CK Hutchison's stake.

Della Valle did not break out line items in the note, but a £300 million incremental saving across an extra two years suggests the operator is finding levers beyond the original integration scope — likely procurement consolidation, network rationalization and shared service centres.

What else moved across EMEA this week?

• Ericsson's 6G rhetoric. Ericsson appears to have shifted its public stance on multivendor radio access networks in commentary that could complicate AT&T's open RAN ambitions. The vendor has historically positioned itself as supportive of multi-vendor architectures; its recent 6G-focused messaging emphasizes integrated stacks.
• Nokia cuts 250 jobs in Finland. Nokia plans to cut around 250 roles at sites in Espoo, Tampere and Oulu, according to Helsingin Sanomat. The layoffs sit inside a 2023 cost programme targeting €800 million to €1.2 billion ($894M to $1.3B) in operating-expense reductions by year-end. Nokia Finland country manager Mikko Hautala told staff: "The changes we are planning are not easy, and they will not be implemented lightly. However, they are necessary to secure our competitiveness in a rapidly changing operating environment."
• KLM picks Starlink for intercontinental Wi-Fi. Dutch flag carrier KLM will offer free satellite-powered Wi-Fi on intercontinental flights from mid-2027 through a deal with SpaceX's Starlink. The airline has already been offering free Wi-Fi on most European routes since the start of this year.
• VEON signs Amdocs for AI ops. Dubai-based VEON signed a ten-year deal with Amdocs to run core technology operations using Amdocs' aOS platform, described as an agentic AI operating system purpose-built for telecom. The agreement expands Amdocs' footprint in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the wider Eurasia region.
• BICS drops BGP for SCION. BICS, the international services arm of Belgian operator Proximus, has abandoned Border Gateway Protocol in favour of SCION for internet routing after testing the technology since 2023. Hans Wouters, head of capacity connect at BICS, said: "SCION lets enterprises control the exact network paths through which their data travels, eliminating risks like route hijacking that traditional Internet routing cannot prevent."
• Proximus doubles fiber speeds. Proximus upgraded three fiber tiers to symmetrical speeds. Internet Go Fiber now offers 250/250 Mbit/s, up from 150/30 Mbit/s. Internet Mega Fiber moves to 600/600 Mbit/s from 500/100 Mbit/s. Internet Giga Fiber reaches 2/2 Gbit/s from 2 Gbit/s/200 Mbit/s. Business equivalents receive the same uplifts.
• Orange France launches Home Cinema Decoder. Orange's new set-top features Bang & Olufsen technology, including a woofer, two side speakers for spatialized sound and a central channel for dialog. The decoder ships with Orange's Livebox Max TV package.

What to watch next?

Vodafone is expected to detail the VodafoneThree cost programme at its next half-year results, where investors will likely press for a milestone path to the new £1 billion target. The original £700 million goal carries no public milestone dates, and Della Valle's "strong start" framing leaves the trajectory open to interpretation. A clearer bridge between the two targets would set the tone for the group's broader UK growth pitch heading into FY26.