Vodafone has presented awards to three of its key suppliers for meeting the group's exacting business requirements, as well as consistently delivering outstanding service and value over the last year.

During its annual Global Supplier Conference attended yesterday by the top 45 of its strategic suppliers, Vodafone's Global Supply Chain Management team recognised those vendors which had contributed towards the company's ongoing success through their continuous pursuit of excellence and provision of business benefits.

In Vodafone's Global Supplier Performance Awards, Giesecke & Devrient, a leading supplier of telecommunication systems and smart cards, won the Global award for "Supplier of the Year" for 2007. The company demonstrated its award winning commitment and capability in enabling Vodafone to deliver to its global customers reliable and innovative products and services in a highly competitive marketplace.

Huawei, the telecommunications networks specialist, won the Outstanding Performance Award in recognition of its delivery of highly competitive products and services to Vodafone across the group's network.

Meanwhile Vodafone's Corporate Responsibility (CR) Engagement Award went to Sun Microsystems, the creator and leading advocate of Java technology, in recognition of its commitment to Vodafone's Code of Ethical Purchasing, as Sun enhances its CR Programme. The award follows the launch of Sun Microsystems' first CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility ) report,  and its support of Vodafone's CR activities.

The awards are driven and allocated based on the findings of Vodafone's Supplier Performance Management system. The system provides performance feedback from across the Vodafone group covering its six key supplier performance pillars of:  Corporate Responsibility, financial stability, technical capability, delivery and quality of service as well as the strength of the commercial relationship. These performance measures form an intrinsic part of Vodafone's sourcing strategy development and execution.

"These awards are designed to recognise where our suppliers have demonstrated a spirit of true strategic partnership by understanding Vodafone's needs then going the extra mile to deliver excellent service and value," said Detlef Schultz, Vodafone's Global Supply Chain Management Director. "In today's competitive market place it is crucial to work with partners that have a deep understanding of our business needs and competitive pressures."

"The support of our suppliers is essential to the company's goal of delighting our customers all over the world, these awards seek to recognise those firms that meet and continuously exceed our expectations every day," he added. "At the same time, we are recognising their commitment to supporting Vodafone in becoming increasingly efficient and competitive in an ethical and sustainable way."

Vodafone also recognised Alcatel-Lucent, Dell, Gemalto, KPMG, Nokia Siemens Networks, Incard, Starhome and Tektronix as shortlisted candidates for the 2007 Vodafone Global Supplier Performance Awards.

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