Through this acquisition Vodafone is now one of Europe’s leading converged operators with 54 million cable and fibre households ‘on-net’ and a total next-gen network reach of 124 million homes and businesses. According to the company, almost half of its consumer European service revenues come from growing fixed and converged services.
“With the acquisition of Liberty’s assets in Germany and CEE, we have completed our transformation into Europe’s leading converged operator,” said Nick Read (pictured), Vodafone Group CEO. “Not only have we reshaped our business, becoming the owner of the largest gigabit-capable next generation network infrastructure in the region, we are now able to play our part in realising the digital society for millions of customers.”
Additionally the company said that it would continue to provide certain transitional services for a period of up to four years after the transaction. These services will be largely network and information technology-related functions.
Only last month, the European Commission approved the transaction, with European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, saying: “In our modern society access to affordable and good quality broadband and TV services is almost as asked for as running water. “These networks do not overlap; however, Vodafone is also active in the supply of fixed broadband services in the areas served by Unitymedia, via wholesale access to Deutsche Telekom’s network.”
As a solution, Telefónica will have access to the expanded cable operation’s network allowing the company to compete more effectively in the provision of fixed broadband services in Germany”.
