🔎 What This Document Is

This is a Form 6-K, a standard report that a foreign company listed in the U.S. (like Vodafone) files with the SEC to share important news. Think of it as a formal press release that gets officially submitted to the market regulator. Its sole purpose here is to announce the company's total voting rights as of a specific date.

👉 Why it matters: This is a transparency rule. It lets everyone—from big funds to individual investors—know exactly how many shares have voting power, which is crucial for understanding control and influence in the company.

🏢 Who Is Vodafone?

In simple terms, Vodafone is a global telecom giant. It provides mobile phones, internet, and digital services to over 360 million customers, mainly in Europe and Africa. It's not just about phones; they run massive IoT (Internet of Things) networks for connected devices and even offer financial services in several African countries.

👉 Why it matters for this filing: As a large public company, tracking who can vote and how many votes they have is a key governance metric. This filing fulfills a legal obligation related to that tracking.

📊 The Voting Rights Breakdown

The core of the announcement is a simple math problem with big implications. As of March 31, 2026:

• Total Ordinary Shares Issued: 24,328,378,589 shares (that's over 24.3 billion shares).
• Shares Held in Treasury: 1,241,264,296 of those shares are held by Vodafone itself (these are like " treasury shares" that don't have voting rights).
• Total Voting Rights: 23,087,114,293 votes.

👉 The Key Takeaway: The "total voting rights" number (23,087,114,293) is the denominator shareholders must use to calculate if their ownership stake crosses a threshold that requires a public disclosure. For example, if you hit 3% or 4% ownership, you have to report it, and you'd use this number to make that calculation.

🧮 Why This Number Matters to Investors

This announcement isn't about a change in voting rights; it's the official, current tally. The number 23,087,114,293 is now the official yardstick for measuring influence.

👉 Why it matters: It prevents ambiguity. Imagine a rule that says you must disclose if you own 5% of a company. Is 5% of 24.3 billion shares, or 23.0 billion shares? This filing removes that guesswork for the market, ensuring everyone calculates ownership percentages with the same figure.

🏛️ The Company's Core Identity

The filing includes a standard boilerplate description of Vodafone's business. It highlights:

• Scale: Operations in 15 countries, investments in 5 more, and partnerships in over 40.
• Infrastructure: Critical assets like submarine cable systems (the internet's backbone) and satellite communication projects.
• Diversification: Beyond consumer phones, they are a major player in machine-to-machine connections (IoT) and African fintech.

👉 Why it matters here: Even in a procedural filing, companies reinforce their brand and business scope. It reminds the reader of Vodafone's strategic position, giving context to the voting structure being announced.

✍️ The Formal Sign-Off

The report is formally signed by Maaike de Bie, in her role as Group General Counsel and Company Secretary. This date, April 1, 2026, is when the filing was authorized for submission.

👉 Why it matters: This signature validates the document's authenticity. The Company Secretary is the officer responsible for ensuring corporate governance and regulatory filings are accurate and timely.

🧠 The Analogy

Announcing your total voting rights is like a sports stadium announcing its official seating capacity. It doesn't tell you who's winning the game, but it tells you the exact number of seats that exist. For shareholders, this filing gives the precise number of "vote-seats" available, so everyone knows the true size of the crowd they need to influence.

📇 Key Contacts & People

Investor Relations:

• Website: investors.vodafone.com
• Email: [email protected]

Media Relations:

• Website: Vodafone.com/media/contact
• Email: [email protected]

Signing Executive:

• Maaike de Bie, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary

🧩 Final Takeaway

This is a routine but important administrative filing that gives Vodafone's shareholders the definitive denominator—23,087,114,293 votes—needed to calculate ownership thresholds for disclosure purposes. It's a snapshot of the company's capital structure as of March 31, 2026, ensuring transparency and compliance with market rules.