French fibre infrastructure company SFR FTTH, owned by Altice Europe and a group of investment firms, unveiled a new logo and name as it rebranded as Xp Fibre. The move follows the recent acquisition of Covage, which received regulatory approval subject to a number of divestments.
Altice France announced the EUR 3.6 bln equity partnership for SFR FTTH in November 2018. At the time, the new venture was expected to reach a fibre footprint of at least 5 million French homes, targeting at least 1 million additional homes passed annually over a four-year period.
In this latest announcement, Altice said that Xp Fibre is contracted to bring FTTP connectivity to 7 million French premises, including 5.5 million previously agreed by SFR FTTH and the rest coming from Covage.
Out of this total, 2.6 million are in areas covered by the AMII agreement, renegotiated by Altice subsidiary SFR in 2018. The remaining premises will be served by open-access networks being deployed across rural communities, including 24 public initiative networks and five additional networks under AMEL contracts (Appels a Manifestation d'Engagements Locaux).
Meanwhile, the venture is progressing with the sale of the fibre assets owned by Covage, as laid out in the regulatory settlement approving the acquisition. The disposal includes 25 of Covage’s regional subsidiaries, of which fifteen networks dedicated to business customers and ten ‘mixed’ networks serving both business and residential customers.
According to Les Echos, at least five bidders (Altitude, Axione, Sipartech, Infravia and Quaero Capital) have expressed an interest in the assets, with final offers expected by the end of March. The disposals could bring in the region of EUR 400-500 million.
