Vodafone explores power of AI

Vodafone is rolling out an AI-based power management programme to keep emergency and other critical services online during major network outages across Europe and Africa.

Under its Vodafone Enhanced Power initiative, the operator is upgrading 10,000 sites in Europe over two years. The push accelerated after a large power failure hit Portugal, Spain and parts of France earlier this year. The system layers AI on top of existing backup power and temporary systems, using software to predict outages, adjust power use and stretch battery life instead of relying solely on more hardware. For small incidents affecting up to ten sites, Vodafone will continue to use portable base stations and its long-running emergency response network with free Wi-Fi and charging points. For larger failures, an adaptive power reserve uses AI to change battery backup times, which Vodafone says can in some cases double runtime. That setup is live in Greece, on trial in Turkey and slated for wider deployment from 2026.

The resilience plan also leans on backup power at 400 mobile data centres and major backbone locations in Europe, and aims to ensure network junctions can run at least four hours on batteries. In Africa, its Vodacom unit is applying similar AI tools to manage power constraints, mixing renewable energy with smarter use of generators.