Vodafone’s acquisition of the cable company will bring its number of mobile customers in the country to 32.4 million
Vodafone has agreed to buy German cable company Kabel Deutschland for ‚¬7.7 billion (£6.6 billion).
The deal will boost Vodafone’s fixed line offering in Germany, as Kabel Deutschland’s is the country’s largest cable, telephony and broadband provider.
The acquisition means Vodafone Germany will have 32.4 million mobile, 5 million broadband and 7.6 million TV customers.
It will bring Vodafone’s revenues in the country to ‚¬11.5 billion (£9.8 billion).
A statement from Vodafone on the deal said it “sees significant potential to accelerate the growth in Vodafone’s and Kabel Deutschland’s broadband, telephony and TV business by leveraging Vodafone’s leading brand and extensive distribution and by cross-selling to each company’s customer base.”
Kabel Deutschland CEO Dr Adrian von Hammerstein said: “Kabel Deutschland and Vodafone are an ideal fit. Together, we have the opportunity to become Germany’s leading telecommunications and television provider and to create what for the German market is a unique, winning combination of fixed line and mobile communications.”
Network integration
Vodafone plans to migrate its existing fixed line digital subscriber base to Kabel Deutschland’s network where possible.
The operator will continue to offer fixed broadband access to customers through its digital subscriber lines or via its wholesale bitstream agreement (which allows it to provide television services over the internet) with German network Deutsche Telekom.
Vodafone said it may combine its and Kabel Deutschland’s regional and national networks to save on network maintenance costs.