Spanish MVNO Masmovil (BME:MAS) is to acquire fibre and copper broadband assets from Orange (EPA:ORA) for an undisclosed price. The French operator must divest these to meet European Commission (EC) remedies on its €3.4bn (US$3.7bn) acquisition…
Spanish MVNO Masmovil (BME:MAS) is to acquire fibre and copper broadband assets from Orange (EPA:ORA) for an undisclosed price. The French operator must divest these to meet European Commission (EC) remedies on its €3.4bn (US$3.7bn) acquisition of Jazztel (BME:JAZ).
Masmovil said it expects the EC to approve the deal by September at the latest. It will then provide further details on the transaction.
According to a statement on remedies issued on 19 May, the EC said these would comprise the disposal of a significant portion of the combined group’s fixed broadband assets to ensure a fourth national operator would be able to compete effectively against the three traditional players (Orange/Jazztel, Vodafone/Ono and Telefonica).
According to Masmovil, the companies agreed on 31 July that Jazztel would sell Masmovil 13 FTTH switchboards currently serving 720,000 homes in Spain’s largest cities and that Masmovil would receive wholesale access at a preferential rate to Jazztel’s entire DSL network for four years (extendable for another four years) to enable it to compete immediately across 78% of Spain (18.6 million homes).
The company already has its own LTE network covering 191 municipalities in 26 Spanish provinces, thanks to its acquisition earlier this year of Neo Operador de Telecomunicaciones. Other recent acquisitions include local VoIP service UppTalk and its MVNO UppMobile, business-oriented operator Xtra Telecom, and wholesale telecoms services provider Quantum Telecom.
In June, the company signed a 4G network-sharing agreement with Orange, having filed a case with Spanish markets and competition authority CNMC when its initial request to do so did not take place.
Also in June, the company issued €27m (US$30m) of bonds due 30 June 2020 carrying a 5.5% annual coupon.
Intermoney, Andbank and Bankia advised on the offering, the proceeds of which were to be spent on launching a convergent offer through access to the Neo and Orange networks, pursuing “selective” acquisitions, co-investing in broadband deployment and possibly acquiring Orange’s fixed network.
At the time, the company said that if successful, it would would fund the Orange deal with additional bank financing.
