It will not be opening it up to other service providers, however
Telenor plans to set up a fibre infrastructure subsidiary called Telenor Fiber – another example of a telco selling off passive infrastructure to raise capital.
The subsidiary is part of deal in which it has agreed to sell a 30% stake to a consortium of investors, led by private equity firm KKR, which will pay NOK 10.8 billion (about €10.41 billion). The consortium includes Oslo Pensjonsforsikring as a co-investor.
The subsidiary will own 130,000km of fibre lines connecting more than 560,000 premises which in 2021 had revenues of about €164 million.
However, unlike most of the passive RAN infrastructure that has been hived off, it is not Telenor’s intention to run Telenor Fiber as an open access wholesale network for other service providers. Its sole customer will Telenor Norway which wholesales services to other internet service providers.
Executing strategy
Tone Hegland Bachke, EVP and CFO in Telenor Group, said, “We are executing on the strategy presented at the Capital Markets Day in September. This transaction highlights the value in our infrastructure and unlocks capital to support continued high fibre roll-out in Norway, and we are bringing in strong investors with a long-term horizon.
“Following the transaction, Telenor will propose that parts of the proceeds are used for share buy backs. We believe this transaction benefits our stakeholders while safeguarding future investments in Norway’s fibre.”
Telenor will hold 70% of the shares after the transaction which it expects to complete in early 2023.
The agreement also includes a right for Telenor to acquire the minority stake in the event of a potential future sale. Considering national and societal interest, Telenor and the government have also entered into an agreement that provides the government with the opportunity to exercise the right to acquire the minority stake if Telenor chooses not to.