Telekom Austria has acquired Croatia’s leading cable operator B.net through its local subsidiary Vipnet for €93 million.
It currently has a subscriber base of 119,000 customers and claims a 22% share of Croatia’s pay-TV market and 7% of its fixed broadband sector.
B.net was established in April 2007 through the merger of the two largest cable operators in Croatia at that time – DCM and Adriatic Cable – with both having been acquired earlier in the year by the Austrian industrial and utility group Bewag for a combined fee of €55 million.
B.net’s cable infrastructure currently passes 266,000 homes, equivalent to 18% of the country’s total. Over 55,000 use its broadband services.
B.net also operates the DTH platform B.net Total TV in conjunction with MEP-backed Serbia Broadband (SBB).
Vipnet is meanwhile the second largest mobile provider in Croatia, with a market share of 41.9%.
Telekom Austria says the acquisition is in line with its convergence strategy.
