Vodafone has launched its V-Home smart home-as-a-service (SHaaS) offering in the UK and Italy, following a launch in Spain in May and Germany in June. The MNO is the latest entrant into this nascent market, but will have to battle against the consumer offerings from the likes of Google and Amazon – the latter just sold a million smart home devices during its Prime Day promotion. For service providers – mostly TV providers, fixed-line ISPs, and MNOs – an SHaaS offering can massively increase customer retention, preventing them from churning away to the competition. The service is also a way to address what looks like clear, if not massive, consumer demand for these systems, and the operators are well-placed here…