‘I personally mentor people all over the globe. And I would like to help Ireland become a talent incubator’

Amanda Nelson is no stranger to new beginnings. Vodafone Ireland’s new chief executive may have spent 25 years with the telco, but her career has spanned continents, from Europe to Asia and back again.

Her latest move, from Vodafone Hungary to Ireland nine months ago, has brought her here at a time of change for the industry. While the Covid pandemic is finally in the rear-view mirror, its impact on the telecoms industry and the digitalisation of the workplace will have long-lasting repercussions.

A classics graduate, Nelson then went into accounting because, she says, she was fascinated by business, particularly on the international stage. “I’ve wanted to travel and work and combine the two forever. And that’s what’s been possible at Vodafone.”

She has spent 25 years with the network in various roles, beginning with Vodafone in Asia in 1998 at its Japanese unit. Following that, she moved to continental Europe, to lead operations in the Netherlands, Malta and Hungary. Last year, she was appointed to succeed Anne O’Leary as head of the Irish business. O’Leary left for Meta Ireland after almost a decade as chief executive of the Irish network.

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I’ve always wanted to be, rather than in group roles or central roles, actually in markets where there are customers and real relationships

—  Amanda Nelson

“It was such a brilliant grounding in business,” she says. “That got me out and got me learning. But I was really passionate early on about being first and foremost where customers are. I’ve always wanted to be, rather than in group roles or central roles, actually in markets where there are customers and real relationships. And I’ve also wanted to be commercial and to be close to where the money is made, not just accounting for it on a P&L [profit and loss sheet].”

She has certainly achieved that goal. But things have changed along the way, too. She now has four teenage children – one at university abroad, two in boarding school abroad, and one at school in Ireland. When the children were younger, things were much easier, she acknowledges; the logistics of juggling family and work became more complicated when they reached secondary school age. Her husband Mark, who is a trained teacher, fully supports her career – and the various moves.

“We have quite a busy, fun and complicated family life, if I’m honest. But it’s brilliant because we’ve been on this journey together, my family has been hugely supportive of my career,” she says.

[ Vodafone ‘fully committed’ to Ireland with plans to invest €500m ]

“I think the watchword for our family has always been ‘adventure’ – we just love it, getting stuck into different cultures, learning new things, all the time.

“All of the family really enjoys living in different places. They have very special memories and have grown up pretty internationally minded as a result. For them, being part of a very international community is normal, and change is normal, which has its ups and downs but I would say in today’s day and age probably is an advantage. They’re quite flexible and adaptable.”

Time of change

It is also a time of change for the wider Vodafone business. The group’s recently appointed permanent boss, Margherita Della Valle, has a new strategy, one that will see around 10 per cent of its workforce leave – 11,000 jobs – and a review of some of its business units get under way.

One of those changes includes the sale of Vodafone UK, a merger with Three that has inevitably raised questions about its future here.

However, the group is not expected to pursue the same strategy in Ireland, where Vodafone is currently the largest network. Three Ireland acquired Telefonica’s Irish business, O2 Ireland, almost a decade ago.

“One of the key things that is always top of my mind is how to transform businesses and make them sustainable and flourishing. The story around Hungary was about acquisition and integration. Here in Ireland it’s very different, I found and this is part of the attraction,” she says. “I’ve come in at a great moment with a great business to accelerate a couple of things. What I see as the big opportunity here is, this is a trusted company with a trusted brand, but we want to go even further forward with the customer experience.”

Vodafone Ireland has invested significantly here, growing its 5G network and establishing a fixed-line broadband service. It has also partnered with ESB Networks on Siro, a high-speed fibre broadband service that it is rolling out to underserved areas of the country.

The company plans to invest €500 million in its Irish network over the next five years in a show of commitment to the Republic, as it transitions its 3G network to 4G, improving call and text reliability and continuing to roll out 5G access countrywide. That commitment came following a €300 million investment in the network that Vodafone commenced in 2020.

Nelson says the network is bolstering its 4G and 5G coverage as it targets an eventual switch-off for its 3G service.

The focus is on the possibilities and innovation brought by 5G.

Growth of 5G

Nelson wants to take some of the lessons learned in Hungary and other markets and apply them to Ireland, everything from smart healthcare to the Internet of Things in smart cities.

Ireland is full of cutting edge manufacturers, so imagine if you have this extremely low-latency, high-capacity network available, you can automate a whole load of things. You can run machines from a distance

—  Amanda Nelson

“I think this is an opportunity for Ireland. I still think there’s some work to be done, when you can bring innovation that can support how Ireland becomes more digital, but also more than that the decarbonisation, and the acceleration of small businesses here because those I think are two big needs Ireland has in the bigger context of Europe. I think we’ve got more to do there. We’re a bit behind.”

The growth of 5G networks could provide opportunities for manufacturing here. Private mobile networks – a mini stand-alone 5G network in-premise that Nelson describes as “wifi on steroids” – could be a game changer for industry.

“Ireland is full of cutting edge manufacturers, so imagine if you have this extremely low-latency, high-capacity network available, you can automate a whole load of things. You can run machines from a distance.”

That €500 million investment is timely. With the pandemic came a shift to more remote working, a trend that has swung back in some cases in favour of the office, but hybrid working remains a reality for many people. That means demand for Vodafone’s services where none previously existed.

“We stood up and we didn’t let people down. That’s a testament to first of all to the amazing people but also the amount of investment that we had been doing and we continue to do. Things have obviously not gone back; it’s only continued to grow, the amount of traffic we carry.”

That in itself presents a dilemma. Average revenues per user in the telecoms industry in Europe have dropped in the past decade as the popularity of messaging apps such as WhatsApp have chipped away at SMS. At the same time, networks have had to invest heavily in fourth- and fifth-generation mobile spectrum and fibre networks.

Those 5G networks are cheaper to run, more energy efficient and offer more capacity. But there may be another battle looming. Network operators globally have been pushing for content companies that rely on their infrastructure to start to pay their way when it comes to the massive costs involved in developing and maintaining the data networks.

Critical sector

Nelson says there is an overall need to look at the health of the telecoms sector in Europe. “This sector is so critical, we are the underpinning of any kind of digital growth. And yet we have one of the lowest returns of any industry. If you look at the multiyear, multi-technology investments we’re making, it dwarfs the investments other industries have to make. There needs to be a discussion about the sustainability of this investment and how it should be funded over the medium term.”

Sustainability is important, too, though. It is something that Vodafone has focused on in recent years, with the introduction of schemes to encourage customers to repair devices rather than upgrade them, and eventually trade them in. But it is also getting its own house in order.

“We are taking it really seriously. I’m sure there’s more we can do; I would never be complacent on this topic. But we’ve put in a lot this year around deeply reducing our own use of energy and particularly at our network,” she says. “We need to be as efficient as we can and we’re using some state of the art energy-saving algorithms, looking at the sites and when they really need to be active. What we trialled here in Ireland will be used now across Vodafone Europe. And we’rewe’re trialling solar on sites, wind as well.”

On a wider scale, smart city technologies will help, for example, by reducing the need to waste fuel driving around looking for parking spaces. And technology itself can reduce travel through remote and hybrid working by bringing connectivity to communities, something Vodafone is hoping to achieve through its high-speed internet “gigahubs”.

As chief executive, she has her personal priorities for the business too, where she can make her mark. Making it easier for people to work together, to ultimately benefit customers.

You’d be very arrogant to think: ‘I’m a CEO, I know the answers.’ We need the views and the voices of that fresh generation in leadership roles sooner rather than later

—  Amanda Nelson

“I really believe in growth and challenge and developing talent, not just sitting still. The world we’re in is changing so much, you need to get out there, you need to challenge yourself. I personally mentor people all over the globe. And I would like to help Ireland become a talent incubator. That can mean asking people to take on new challenges, or potentially getting them to go into different roles here or abroad. It can be me personally leaning in as a bit of a mentor. There’s such high-quality people here,” she says.

With that talent should come diversity, another passion of Nelson’s. It’s not just about gender but also diversity of experience, background, race, ethnicity. And she is always learning herself, to help reach those goals.

“I’m always trying to learn new ways of managing teams. This is something I trialled in Hungary I saw really good engagement and happier people there,” she says. “Here I hope to do it on a bigger scale.”

‘We need you’

Part of that effort is listening to younger people coming through as graduates.

“I know that I don’t have all the answers. I look out on the global problems we’re trying to solve and we need to put our heads together. You’d be very arrogant to think: ‘I’m a CEO, I know the answers.’ “We need the views and the voices of that fresh generation in leadership roles sooner rather than later.”

Her advice to the next generation is simple: Don’t look up, look out.

“Help us. We need you. We need your insight. Because together we’ve got some really big issues we need to solve and we need to be a heck of a lot bolder than we have been in the past.”

CV

Name: Amanda Nelson

Age: 50

Job: Vodafone Ireland CEO

Family: Married to Mark, with four teenage children

Hobbies: Running

Something you would expect: She fully supports Vodafone’s diversity and inclusion programmes, and the talent initiatives.

Something that might surprise: She considers her life “pretty simple” and is very involved in her church. “I have a very strong faith, I’m very involved in the church, I lead support groups.”

A business leader she admires: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “I like business leaders that are bold, simple and transform things. And I think what he’s done with Microsoft has been extraordinary.”