It is the first time the telecoms giant has considered consolidating its entire multi-market media business. The process is being led by global brand director David Wheldon.
The review comes despite the ongoing rollout of a number of local market reviews.
OMD currently handles the bulk of Vodafone's European business, including Germany and Italy.
Vodafone's US and French media interests, through Verizon Wireless and SFR respectively, are not included in the review. Its business in Australia, which is in the middle of a merger with Hutchison's 3, is also believed to have been omitted.
A Vodafone spokesman confirmed at least two undisclosed agency networks had been invited to submit costings for its global media requirements. Data is being requested for a "handful of key markets", said to stretch across EMEA, India and some African states. Those invited are believed to include Mediaedge:cia, OMD and Carat.
The information will be compared with figures already known from local market activity as part of a data-crunching exercise by Vodafone's brand marketing team.
The news could come as a blow to Aegis Media's Carat, which was only awarded the £55m UK account in January after a protracted battle against Omnicom's OMD.
Vodafone's UK media business also includes an extra £15m of outdoor business handled by Kinetic.
The spokesman added: "One of the questions we have been asking is, would it be more cost effective to buy our media globally from one agency network? Of course, we may decide to stick with the local agencies we have already appointed."
But the move could be interpreted as offering a chance for OMD to snatch back the UK business, and as one agency leader noted: "The chance of being able to find economies of scale from a single media buying operation is high."
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