Telenet must treat customers with Brutélé
Orange Belgium CEO Xavier Pichon (pictured) is reportedly ‘thrilled’ with a decision by the European Commission to finally approve of today the acquisition of 75% of the capital less one share of VOO. Orange can now move forward with the acquisition because the EC states that “these commitments fully address the competition concerns identified by the European Commission. It therefore concluded that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns.” The final phase of the buyout is now underway towards the closing of the transaction, expected to take place by the end of Q2 2023.
After 25 years of operating in Belgium, the France-based Orange Group’s acquisition of VOO clears a path for it to run high-speed network in Wallonia and part of Brussels, boosting its convergent multigigabit strategy at national level.
“The combination of our ambitious investment plans, skills and expertise will strengthen the quality of our offers to the customers and ensure competitiveness in the Walloon and Brussels regions.”
Orange agreed to buy 75% minus one share of regional quad-play services operator VOO in late 2021 in a deal that valued the whole of VOO at €1.8 billion. The EC said consolidating from three to two operators in areas covered by VOO and Brutélé’s own fixed networks would allow a duopoly could hold them hostage to the fortunes in the fixed Internet, audio-visual and multi-play markets. Voo and Brutélé together operate a collection of cable companies that use the VOO brand.
“With our in-depth investigation, we want to make sure that the acquisition of Voo/Brutélé by Orange does not lead to higher prices or less quality for customers in Wallonia and parts of Brussels,” EC EVOP Margrethe Vestager said at the time.
In response Orange agreed to provide Liberty Global’s Telenet with access to the existing fixed network infrastructure it is acquiring from VOO and Brutélé in the Walloon region and parts of Brussels and to its own future fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network for at least 10 years.
The proposed commitments effectively make Orange an access seeker on the VOO and Brutélé networks in the Walloon region and parts of Brussels by Telenet, which will be the new access seeker on those networks the Commission said. It endorsed Telenet as “a reputable player with a proven track record on the fixed and mobile telecommunications markets.”