Vodafone, Altice launch FibreCo, a €7 billion broadband startup joint venture to challenge Deutsche Telekom

Vodafone has joined forces with the French telco giant Altice to launch FibreCo, a joint venture that will deploy a broadband network to seven million homes in Germany.

As part of the agreement, the new startup company FibreCo aims to construct and operate a “fibre-to-the-home” (FTTH) broadband network over a six-year period. The two companies will invest up to 7 billion euros (£6 billion) with 70% of the funding expected to be financed by debt.

50% of the venture will be owned by Vodafone Germany and 50% by Altice. The construction of the project will be contracted to Altice subsidiary Geodesia, with Vodafone Germany responsible for marketing the faster broadband to new customers. The new venture is subject also to government regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first half of 2023.

Currently, the British telco offers up to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) connections to over 24 million homes in Germany. The partnership with Altice is expected to complement its upgrade plans for its existing hybrid fiber cable network which aims to increase up to 10 Gbps speeds in the future.

To fully take advantage of the potential of the infrastructure, FibreCo is set to offer wholesale access to all telecommunications service providers. The joint venture will also benefit from Vodafone’s commercial expertise, relationships with housing associations, and Altice’s FTTH roll-out, wholesale, and operational expertise.

The Amsterdam-based holding Altice is known for its fiber infrastructure joint ventures in France, Portugal, and Israel. In a statement, Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said, “This partnership builds on Vodafone’s significant next-generation network with Altice’s industrial expertise and proven Fibre-to-the-Home construction capabilities enabling us to bring gigabit connectivity to even more customers in Germany.”

Nick Read added, “We are proud of our long-standing relationships with housing associations and pleased as a trusted provider to bring more connectivity options for tenants.”