Member Article

Vodafone announce £6 billion Spanish cable deal

Telecoms giant Vodafone has announced a deal to acquire Spanish cable firm Ono for €7.2 billion (£6.0 billion).

Ono has the largest next-generation network in Spain, serving 1.9 million customers in 13 regions, representing about 41% of all households in the country.

The deal will expand Vodafone’s European reach and is aimed at growing its unified communications business across Ono’s customers.

Vodafone group chief executive, Vittorio Colao, said: “The combination of Vodafone and Ono creates a leading integrated communications provider in Spain and represents an attractive value creation opportunity for Vodafone.

“Demand for unified communications products and services has increased significantly over the last few years in Spain, and this transaction - together with our fibre-to-the-home build programme - will accelerate our ability to offer best-in-class propositions in the Spanish market.

“We look forward to welcoming the management and employees of Ono to Vodafone and working together to serve our customers across Spain.”

The chairman of the Ono board of directors, José María Castellano Ríos, said: “This transaction reflects Ono’s attractive position as Spain’s leading provider of high speed broadband, premium pay-TV and fixed communications.

“As part of Vodafone, Ono will continue to seize new growth opportunities and deliver the quality that our customers expect. The enlarged business is also expected to drive innovation in the Spanish telecommunications industry.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .