T-Mobile to buy Vodafone fixed business in Netherlands

News General Netherlands 4 NOV 2016
T-Mobile to buy Vodafone fixed business in Netherlands
Vodafone Netherlands has agreed to sell its fixed business to T-Mobile, meeting a condition for regulatory approval of its planned merger with cable operator Ziggo. Vodafone has around 150,000 consumer fixed broadband customers in the Netherlands. It expects to complete the sale in December; no financial details were disclosed. 

The acquisition sees T-Mobile re-entering the fixed market, after it sold ISP Online.nl in 2013 and attempted a mobile-only strategy. With the merger of Vodafone-Ziggo, the Dutch market will have two fully converged operators, and competition is expected to focus increasingly on fixed-mobile bundling, an area where incumbent KPN has been growing its share. 

T-Mobile said it expects more synergies after the deal with a portfolio of both fixed and mobile services. Around 90 percent of Vodafone's customers are already on triple-play plans and the company has a national network reaching around 80 percent of Dutch households with fast broadband. Martin Knauer, T-Mobile Netherlands' new CEO since September, said parent company Deutsche Telekom will help the company build out and innovate with the fixed services and "offer Dutch consumers more choice". 

The sale of Vodafone's fixed activities to T-Mobile still requires regulatory approval before it can be completed. The European Commission had required Vodafone to find a buyer for the business, saying it was concerned about the impact on the Dutch broadband market if a growing competitor like Vodafone was eliminated. Multiple buyers were thought to be interested in the activities, including also Tele2 and Online.nl's new owner M7. Bids were reportedly over EUR 100 million. 

Categories:

General

Companies:

Vodafone,  Ziggo,  VodafoneZiggo,  Liberty Global,  T-Mobile Netherlands,  Deutsche Telekom,  Online.nl

Countries:

Netherlands

Tags:

M&A buyouts & divestments

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