What is the percentage of payments processed in a touchless way in digital operations
raditional incumbent VPNs. We will work with larger enterprise customers to help them mak the switch from legacy VPNs to faster, more reliable and cost-efficient SD-WAN-based solutions. We have seen the substantial benefits of migrating to the cloud inside our own business. So we fully understand the speed and productivity advantages that are possible. In addition, we will leverage strategic partnerships to ensure we move quickly with best-in-class solutions as seen with IBM on cloud solutions and AWS with edge cloud services. We are only at the beginning of fully understanding and deploying the potential of IoT across industry sectors. We already have a leading position in the automotive sector, in which, over 30 million cars are connected by Vodafone through our global leading platform that now has over 100 million connections.
We are now coupling our IoT expertise with 5G to offer mobile private networks. We are targeting 30 large-scale customer pilots across three industry verticals this year. We firmly believe that a greater focus on these emerging technologies will enable us to increase our share of the value chain in which we operate. Over the past two years, we have delivered a significant shift in our cost base and productivity through targeted deployment of digital technology. At our open office event in September last year, we showcased a number of advancements we are making to be the industry leader in this area, emphasizing at the time that this was a fundamental transformation of our operating model and not just cost cutting. This provides an important platform to make a step change in our ambition, driven by behavioral changes experienced over the last few months.
Within customer management, we've delivered a 20% reduction in the number of calls over the last two years through initiatives, including the deployment of our AI assistant TOBi. We've also further optimized our branded retail store footprint with a decrease of 9% so far. In digital operations, we are now processing 80% of our payments in a touchless way. Through these activities and many more, we believe we will enhance the customer experience, improve customer loyalty, sell more services and ultimately deliver more cost savings. Our new cost target, which Margherita covered, means we will be taking out over EUR1.8 billion from our FY '18 starting point, a 20% structural reduction in our opex over five years. Over the last 18 months, we've executed a series of agreements across our markets to enable a mix of active and passive sharing of mobile network infrastructure. You will see from the map this supports our strong 4G coverage already established across our markets. During the year, we reached agreements in Germany with DT, TI in Italy, with all MNOs in the UK for enhanced rural coverage and extended the scope with Orange in Spain and O2 in the UK.
Complementing our strong mobile coverage through a mix of direct cable and fiber ownership alongside strategic wholesale deals and regulatory access, we can market NGN broadband services to over 136 million homes across our markets in Europe. In addition, we are rapidly rolling out DOCSIS 3.1 across our cable networks, serving 32 million households with gigabit speeds on our own infrastructure, an increase from 24 million at H1. We're targeting to upgrade most of our 54 million NGN homes passed by 2023.
I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the pace and sheer breadth of portfolio activity we've executed in the last 12 months. One of the most important transactions we completed during the year was the merger of our towers in Italy with INWIT, as they allowed us to engage with the European Commission to establish the right principles for network sharing in Europe. As you see from the chart, there has been a range of models discussed and we believe that a national passive share with active sharing outside of major cities remains the optimal target sites, providing a quicker, more optimal way to improve coverage and speeds, while allowing us to drive industrial synergies.
In return for our towers, we
raditional incumbent VPNs. We will work with larger enterprise customers to help them mak the switch from legacy VPNs to faster, more reliable and cost-efficient SD-WAN-based solutions. We have seen the substantial benefits of migrating to the cloud inside our own business. So we fully understand the speed and productivity advantages that are possible. In addition, we will leverage strategic partnerships to ensure we move quickly with best-in-class solutions as seen with IBM on cloud solutions and AWS with edge cloud services. We are only at the beginning of fully understanding and deploying the potential of IoT across industry sectors. We already have a leading position in the automotive sector, in which, over 30 million cars are connected by Vodafone through our global leading platform that now has over 100 million connections.
We are now coupling our IoT expertise with 5G to offer mobile private networks. We are targeting 30 large-scale customer pilots across three industry verticals this year. We firmly believe that a greater focus on these emerging technologies will enable us to increase our share of the value chain in which we operate. Over the past two years, we have delivered a significant shift in our cost base and productivity through targeted deployment of digital technology. At our open office event in September last year, we showcased a number of advancements we are making to be the industry leader in this area, emphasizing at the time that this was a fundamental transformation of our operating model and not just cost cutting. This provides an important platform to make a step change in our ambition, driven by behavioral changes experienced over the last few months.
 Within customer management, we've delivered a 20% reduction in the number of calls over the last two years through initiatives, including the deployment of our AI assistant TOBi. We've also further optimized our branded retail store footprint with a decrease of 9% so far. In digital operations, we are now processing 80% of our payments in a touchless way. Through these activities and many more, we believe we will enhance the customer experience, improve customer loyalty, sell more services and ultimately deliver more cost savings. Our new cost target, which Margherita covered, means we will be taking out over EUR1.8 billion from our FY '18 starting point, a 20% structural reduction in our opex over five years. Over the last 18 months, we've executed a series of agreements across our markets to enable a mix of active and passive sharing of mobile network infrastructure. You will see from the map this supports our strong 4G coverage already established across our markets. During the year, we reached agreements in Germany with DT, TI in Italy, with all MNOs in the UK for enhanced rural coverage and extended the scope with Orange in Spain and O2 in the UK.
Complementing our strong mobile coverage through a mix of direct cable and fiber ownership alongside strategic wholesale deals and regulatory access, we can market NGN broadband services to over 136 million homes across our markets in Europe. In addition, we are rapidly rolling out DOCSIS 3.1 across our cable networks, serving 32 million households with gigabit speeds on our own infrastructure, an increase from 24 million at H1. We're targeting to upgrade most of our 54 million NGN homes passed by 2023.
I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the pace and sheer breadth of portfolio activity we've executed in the last 12 months. One of the most important transactions we completed during the year was the merger of our towers in Italy with INWIT, as they allowed us to engage with the European Commission to establish the right principles for network sharing in Europe. As you see from the chart, there has been a range of models discussed and we believe that a national passive share with active sharing outside of major cities remains the optimal target sites, providing a quicker, more optimal way to improve coverage and speeds, while allowing us to drive industrial synergies.
In return for our towers, we