Belgian market moves up a gear after broadband JV deal between Telenet and Fluvious last week
Orange Belgium’s acquisition of a 75% stake (minus 1 share) in cableco VOO is at last completed after almost 18 months of regulatory scrutiny. VOO’s network covers the Walloon region of the country and some of the capital, Brussels.
Orange is paying about €1.35 billion for the stake. The outstanding 25% of VOO will be held by Nethys, a Belgian technology, energy and industrial development company.
Nethys chose Orange after a competitive selection process and entered exclusive negotiations with the Belgian subsidiary of the French operator group in November 2021 and reached agreement on terms by Christmas.
Beating off the competition
At the time Orange was chosen by Nethys, the equity research firm Jefferies commented in a research note: “We repeat our view that any new operator-owner of Voo is likely to intensify competitive pressures for PROX[IMUS – the country’s incumbent operator] who is overindexing [outperforming the market] in Wallonia.
Originally many observers thought that Telenet would prevail in the competition selection process. Last week the European Commission granted it permission for to set up a joing venture with utilityco Fluvius to build out fibre and upgrade its cable network.
There is much to do: Belgium languishes at the bottom of the FTTH Europe Council’s ranking of 39 European countries for FTTH penetration – although this does not take into account the role of cable infrastructure in delivering broadband.
Convergence is the key
Speaking of the completion of Orange’s acquisition of the stake in Voo, Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, CEO of Orange Europe and deputy CEO of Orange Group (pictured), commented, “Today’s closing of our acquisition of VOO marks an important milestone – emboldening our convergence ambitions in Belgium.
“Convergence in Europe has proven to be key to our leadership in Europe and demonstrates how Orange’s new strategy, Lead the Future, will continue to meet the digital needs that our customers in Europe demand.”