Vodafone Group got the keys to a shiny new cloud business in Germany after completing a €175 million acquisition of domestic specialist Skaylink.

The operator initiated the purchase from private equity investors in October, explaining Skaylink would bring expertise in cloud deployments using Microsoft and AWS.

Vodafone stated completing the deal will speed its growth in fields spanning professional and managed services, and cloud and security.

Skaylink is based in Germany, though Vodafone noted the company’s operations span Europe as a whole.

Vodafone is keen to shore up its role in Europe’s cloud market, which figures issued by Synergy Research Group in July show is dominated by big names including Microsoft, AWS and Google.

The research company stated European cloud players’ market share had stood at around 15 per cent since 2022, with SAP and Deutsche Telekom topping the list of local providers.

Synergy Research Group estimated cloud infrastructure service revenue in the region hit €36 billion in the opening half of the year and predicted annual growth would be around 24 per cent year-on-year.

When Vodafone originally detailed its move, it noted Skaylink has a staff of around 500 and targeted a completion date of end-March 2026.