The EU Commission has given the green light to a joint venture between Vodafone and Altice to deploy fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) across Germany.
The joint venture is called FibreCo and will see the partners deploy FTTH to up to seven million homes over a six-year period.
Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group, commented:
“This partnership builds on Vodafone’s significant next-generation network with Altice’s industrial expertise and proven Fibre-to-the-Home construction capabilities enabling us to bring gigabit connectivity to even more customers in Germany.
We are proud of our long-standing relationships with housing associations and pleased as a trusted provider to bring more connectivity options for tenants.
This significant infrastructure investment supports the country’s social, economic and digital development and the broadband ambitions of the German government as part of Europe’s Digital Decade targets.”
The multi-billion dollar project required approval from the EU due to having to satisfy certain merger rules.
According to German publication Handelsblatt, the venture has now been approved by Brussels.
David Drahi, co-CEO of Altice, said:
“We are delighted and honoured to join forces with Vodafone to build and operate a FTTH network connecting up to seven million premises in Germany.
Altice’s existing presence in Germany through Geodesia, its unique track record in operating over 45 million homes with the latest very high-speed fibre networks across Europe and the US, together with Vodafone’s competitive position as anchor tenant, will help us establish one of the largest FTTH ventures in Europe.
We have pioneered fibre joint ventures in France and Portugal, and are thus thrilled to be able to replicate such a feat in Germany with such a partner.”
As part of the deal, Vodafone is set to receive up to €1.2 billion from Altice.
(Photo by Peter Burdon on Unsplash)
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