Belgian operator Proximus has agreed to buy the MVNOs Mobile Vikings and Jim Mobile from DPG Media for EUR 130 million. Vikings is one of the country's largest MVNOs and will continue to operate under its own brand, with the same services. Together, the two MVNOs count around 335,000 customers.
Proximus said the company will operate as an independent subsidiary, the same as its brands Scarlet and Tango. The around 80 staff at Vikings should not see any change. Proximus wants to develop the Mobile Vikings offer further, developing new services for the current and future customers.
Mobile Vikings is expected to generate just over EUR 50 million in revenue and EUR 15 million in EBITDA in 2020. The company is known for being a pioneer in large data bundles in Belgium, while also working with retailers to offer customers cash-back on online purchases. The credit can be used to buy top-ups or pay for postpaid subscriptions.
DPG Media acquired Vikings and Jim from Base, when the latter was forced to divest the group as part of its takeover by Telenet. However, the synergies with the media group proved limited, and DPG put the MVNOs up for sale in order to focus more on its digital media expansion.
Proximus expects synergies both in network use (Vikings is currently on the Orange network) and in commercial areas, such as offering fixed-mobile convergent packages under the Vikings name.
The takeover still needs clearance from competition authorities before completion. Proximus expects to close the deal in 2021, with the first synergies coming through in the first half of 2022.
