The on-again rumor that Verizon Communications is attempting to purchase Vodafone’s 45% stake in Verizon Wireless is front page news in today’s Wall Street Journal. With the purported difference of $30B between what Verizon is offering and what Vodafone wants, it is unclear whether this time a deal will be reached.

What may not be so obvious in this story, however, is that, through its global operations, Vodafone has a presence in the U.S. beyond Verizon. In the above interview, Erik Kling, Vice President of New Business Development at Vodafone Global Enterprise,  discusses how Vodafone helps connect disparate global organizations.

And those connections aren’t just about connecting people, but connecting machines to machines. Kling suggests that smart metering and telematics (e.g. automobile connectivity) are sectors that are leading the way in terms of machine connectivity.

Kling points out that Vodafone is more than a wireless company and that it offers a complete solution. As such, they partner with other carriers and he uses their relationship with Verizon as an example of one that provides a complete solution for companies with global operations. One would suspect that this sort of partnership of global reach will still be necessary, even if Verizon goes its own way with wireless in the U.S.

[ViodiTV coverage of CONNECTIONS™ brought to you by Parks Associates]