Vodafone and Altice establish German broadband company – Telco/ISP

Vodafone and Altice on Monday launched a joint venture to challenge Deutsche Telekom by building a €7 billion (A$11 billion) fiber optic broadband network in Germany.

Vodafone said the FibreCo venture will build a ‘Fibre-to-the-Home’ broadband network that will serve 7 million German households, while UK-based Vodafone will leverage the existing network in Germany, where it is the largest market. Said it could be upgraded.

FibreCo plans to invest up to €7 billion in the six-year project, 70% of which is expected to be debt-financed.

Construction will be contracted to Altice subsidiary Geodesia, and Vodafone Germany will be responsible for marketing the faster broadband to new customers.

Both companies own 50% of FibreCo.

The partnership is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first half of 2023.

“This partnership combines Vodafone’s vital next-generation network with Altis’ industrial expertise and proven fiber-to-home construction capabilities.

Vodafone said it would receive up to €1.2 billion in cash proceeds from Altice.

Read is under pressure from long-suffering investors to improve the profitability of pan-European mobile and broadband operator Vodafone and is in talks with CK Hutchison about merging its UK operations.

Altice is an Amsterdam-based holding company that organizes the assets of Franco-Israeli cable tycoon Patrick Drahi. Already operating fiber his infrastructure joint his ventures in France, Portugal and Israel.