Liberty Global and Google Cloud have revealed a five, year strategic partnership that will help Liberty Global quickly turn digitally and make advanced artificial intelligence (AI) an intrinsic feature of its large, scale European operations. The partnership will use Google’s Gemini AI models and cloud infrastructure to create new customer experiences, improve efficiency, and increase the range of B2B solutions.
This partnership will help Liberty Global’s network of nearly 80 million fixed and mobile connections in the telecom footprint directly by bringing new AI, enabled services, devices, and TV experiences powered by Google’s advanced technology.
In addition to service innovations, both companies will explore ways to deliver Google Cloud services within Liberty Global’s data centers to meet excess demand and extend infrastructure capacity.
The work that has been going on for a long time between the two organizations has been the basis of the extended partnership. It covers several strategic business units such as Atlas Edge, Formula E, and Liberty Blume. Particularly, Formula E has including Google Cloud as Principal Partner and Official AI Partner of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, which is a strong indication of the innovation, centric deepening.
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Three Core Strategic Priorities
1. AI-Driven Customer Value
The partnership will integrate Google Cloud’s AI capabilities into Liberty Global’s core consumer brands including Virgin Media O2 (UK), Telenet (Belgium), VodafoneZiggo (Netherlands), Virgin Media (Ireland), and Sunrise (Switzerland). Gemini models will enhance the Horizon TV platform with smarter, conversational content search and discovery, and improve customer care responsiveness and first-contact resolution. Furthermore, Liberty Global will explore offering a broad portfolio of Google products and services including Pixel phones and watches, smart home devices, Google Home Premium, Chromebooks, and YouTube Premium across its regional operating companies.
2. Cloud Optimization and Operational Efficiency
Joint AI, first initiatives will concentrate on increasing telecom system and network scalability, enhancing security and data sovereignty, and furthering operational cost efficiencies. Through joint efforts, development of autonomous network operations will also be expedited via proactive recognition of performance issues and automated implementation of corrective actions, thus service quality and reliability being improved. The partners will also consider ways to maximize the use of the current network capacity and, if necessary, allocate more data center resources to Google Cloud.
3. New Growth Opportunities and B2B Solutions
Liberty Global and Google Cloud plan to work together to grow their business in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. This will include developing combined cloud, cyber security, and AI offerings and taking them to market together. Besides that, both companies will look into telecom data monetization as a way of gaining value from telecom data, but with very strong data privacy measures. These two companies may also grow through joint brand activations and by digitizing their businesses to generate new streams of revenue.
Leadership Perspectives
Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, underscored the importance of this expanded alliance: “Our expanded partnership with Google Cloud represents a significant milestone for Liberty Global as we continue to innovate and enhance the experiences we offer our customers and drive substantial value creation for all our stakeholders. By harnessing the power of AI and cloud technology, we are not only modernizing our infrastructure but also creating new revenue opportunities and products that will benefit millions of consumers across our operating companies.”
Echoing this sentiment, President of Google Cloud EMEA, Tara Brady, stated: “We are deepening our partnership with Liberty Global to deliver transformative solutions that enhance customer experience and drive operational excellence. Our goal is simple: to use technology to cut through complexity and bring value to our customers and partners.”