Message from our CEO
THE POWER OF CONNECTION
CEO – Jeroen Hoencamp
In our connected society, the more we digitise, the more important our daily connections become. That is why we continue to invest in the innovative technologies that have made the Netherlands’ networks one of the best in the world. In VodafoneZiggo’s first Integrated Annual Report, you can read all about the connecting power of VodafoneZiggo and its positive impact on Dutch society.
The year 2022 provided us with ample opportunities to demonstrate the value of our purpose: ‘Enjoyment and progress with every connection’. From the Ukraine-Russia war to unprecedented inflation and energy costs – not to mention our ongoing recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – the last twelve months have been turbulent. For VodafoneZiggo, markets have remained highly competitive and customer behaviour has continued to transform. However, in the face of these challenges, we have underlined our value to society.
Our customers place their trust in us for a reliable connection.
A BETTER SOCIETY
We have demonstrated our motivation to move society forward, something I see reflected throughout our entire organisation. For example, the Vodafone Foundation Instant Network team helped set up emergency mobile networks in the border areas of Ukraine. After the team returned, they shared their experiences of enabling refugees to reconnect with their loved ones. Recently, this team put their experiences to good use and travelled to Turkey to set up emergency communications in regions that were severely affected by earthquakes in February 2023. These stories fill me with pride as they show what we do really matters.
Our efforts to support energy transition further underpin our commitment to society. Our ambition is to make ourselves and our value chain partners more sustainable – a goal every single colleague at VodafoneZiggo has a say in. Enabling our technicians to use electric cargo bikes and electric scooters when travelling the final few kilometres in city centres is just one example of this. This not only makes parking easier and enables our technicians to reach their location more quickly, but it is helping us realise our ambition to halve our CO2 emissions by 2025. I am proud that we are coming up with these ideas and that we are making them a reality.
TECHNOLOGY FOR EVERYONE
A reliable network is a cornerstone of modern society. That is why we continue to focus on providing a secure and stable network and continually expanding it to meet our customers’ needs. Since autumn 2022, for example, we have offered all our customers a connection with a download speed of 1 Gigabit per second. We are also helping entrepreneurs by providing them with the tools they need in our digitised society – from a network that enables secure, hybrid and efficient working to smart Internet of Things solutions. These are considerable achievements that a great many colleagues have worked hard to achieve.
We have also worked hard to ensure that, while our technology expands worlds and reduces distances, it does not leave anyone behind. We believe it is important to make sure that everyone is given the opportunity to participate in this digital society – in a conscious and safe way. We are therefore helping improve the digital abilities of senior citizens with our Welcome Online workshop, which covers skills like making video calls and using apps. And in our Online Masters programme, we are teaching children how to be skilful and stay safe online, as well as how to maintain a healthy balance between online and offline activities. Through these programmes, we were able to help over 200,000 people progress in our digital society this year.
THE BEST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Sharing amazing experiences is what strengthens our connections. We know truly exceptional customer experience goes much further than just a secure and stable connection – they need to be super simple, super smart, and super personalised. This idea has been at the core of the VodafoneZiggo partnership for the past six years, and will continue to be, after revising our strategy in 2022. We have compiled this Integrated Annual Report on the basis of that revised strategy.
We want to offer an exceptional customer experience. Anytime, on any device and anywhere.
This was the idea behind our entertainment platform – the leading platform in the Netherlands – which brings together a distinctive range of sport and entertainment with major streaming services. For example, as part of Ziggo Sport, we acquired exclusive TV rights for the UEFA club football. We also continued to innovate the sustainability of our products. Last year, for example, we introduced ‘Next Mini’, a small and energy-efficient Mediabox.
ONE BIG TEAM
I look back at our results in 2022 with pride. We successfully achieved all our financial goals in what was a challenging market. As a result, we were able to invest almost €950 million in further strengthening our networks, products and services.
Our financial, sustainability and social achievements are only possible thanks to the dedication and hard work of all our people. We work together as one big team: from our technicians, call centre employees and shop staff to our IT professionals, marketeers and sales managers. Each of them has helped us achieve our overarching goal of offering our customers enjoyment and progress with every connection. They are the ones who, together, have enabled VodafoneZiggo re-affirm its value to society.
Jeroen Hoencamp
CEO VodafoneZiggo
