Just a month after getting the thumbs up for its purchase of French mobile operator SFR, Numericable has also secured regulatory approval for its acquisition of local MVNO Virgin Mobile.
The €325m (US$443.7m) deal was initially agreed in late June and…
Just a month after getting the thumbs up for its purchase of French mobile operator SFR, Numericable has also secured regulatory approval for its acquisition of local MVNO Virgin Mobile.
The €325m (US$443.7m) deal was initially agreed in late June and will see the French cable operator add another 1.7 million mobile subscribers to its customer base.
Numericable, owned by Luxembourg-based holding Altice, entered exclusive negotiations in mid-May with Virgin Mobile’s owners, which include UK telecoms retailer Carphone Warehouse and the Virgin Group.
Virgin Mobile currently rents capacity on SFR’s network to serve its customers.
French conglomerate Vivendi, SFR’s parent, will contribute €200m of the €325m purchase price. Altice has said Vivendi’s participation will enhance the value of its 20% stake in Numericable post-merger.
In its decision today, France’s competition authority said one of the conditions of its approval included Numericable opening up its network to other mobile carriers and MVNOs.
The regulator pointed out that Numericable has already agreed to this requirement when it received clearance for the SFR purchase at the end of October.
The SFR-Numericable €13bn merger closed today.
