Vodafone and Altice partner on €7bn German fibre rollout

Share
Vodafone and Altice have announced the creation of a fibre joint venture in Germany that will spend as much as €7bn on network rollout

Vodafone Group has partnered with Altice to create a joint venture fibre company in Germany. 

Named FiberCo, the new broadband company will be jointly owned by Vodafone and Altice, and aims to construct and operate a FTTH network to 7 million homes in six years. The companies have plans to invest a combined €7bn on a rollout across the country.

Vodafone already currently offers up to 1Gbps connections to over 24 million homes. This partnership with Altice is complementary to Vodafone’s upgrade plans for its existing hybrid fibre cable network. 

Nick Read, Vodafone Group Chief Executive, commented: “This partnership builds on Vodafone’s significant next generation network with Altice’s industrial expertise and proven Fibre-to-the-Home construction capabilities enabling us to bring gigabit connectivity to even more customers in Germany. We are proud of our long-standing relationships with housing associations and pleased as a trusted provider to bring more connectivity options for tenants. This significant infrastructure investment supports the country’s social, economic and digital development and the broadband ambitions of the German government as part of Europe’s Digital Decade targets.”

Building out Germany’s full fibre networks

FibreCo will offer wholesale access to all telecommunications service providers in Germany, exploiting the full potential of the fibre network. Vodafone Germany will act as the anchor tenant, entering into an agreement with the FibreCo upon closing of the Transaction.

As part of its plan, 80% of the deployment will be focused on housing associations, tapping into Vodafone’s existing fibre cable network footprint, which are looking to upgrade. The remaining 20% of its push will be outside of the operator’s current footprint.

The operators have already contracted engineering and construction company Geodesia, a subsidiary of Altice, to carry out the majority of the network build and maintenance.

David Drahi, co-CEO of Altice, commented: “We are delighted and honoured to join forces with Vodafone to build and operate a FTTH network connecting up to 7 million premises in Germany. Altice’s existing presence in Germany through Geodesia, its unique track record in operating over 45 million homes with the latest very-high speed fibre networks across Europe and the US, together with Vodafone’s competitive position as anchor tenant will help us establish one of the largest FTTH ventures in Europe. We have pioneered fibre joint ventures in France and Portugal, and are thus thrilled to be able to replicate such a feat in Germany with such a partner.”

Share

Featured Articles

How EE is Rolling Out its 5G Standalone Upgrade in the UK

EE, the super-fast mobile network operator, has announced 16 new locations to bring its 5G standalone network to more than 30 major UK towns and cities

Broadcom & Telia: Transforming Telco Cloud Infrastructure

Broadcom and Telia have announced an expanded multi-year partnership to transform telco and cloud infrastructure and offer new robust secure services

Ericsson Study: 5G is Providing Enhanced Event Experiences

An Ericsson study shows 5G delivers 20% higher satisfaction than 4G at major 2024 events, with users willing to pay a premium for guaranteed connectivity

Nokia & Elisa Trial: A Goal to Deploy Faster Fibre Broadband

Connectivity

Who is Jennifer Holmes? New London Internet Exchange CEO

Connectivity

Huawei: How 5.5G enables Mobile AI and Spectrum Monetisation

5G & IOT