The Danish cablenet Stofa has lost 40,000 customers in and around the city of Aarhus after the local housing association exercised its right to buy out the company.
The arbitration case between Stofa and AFAA used first right of refusal in the contract that dates back to 1979.
The case was settled in August and the transfer will occur on 1 December. This means that from 1 December AFAA will have full control over the network and will be able to choose who supplies their TV and broadband services.
Stofa presented several different offers to ensure continuity of service, but AFAA has decided Stofa will not be part of the network going forward.
“We have made every effort to ensure that customers are not affected by AFAA’s takeover of the network. AFAA has not wanted us to continue as one of several providers on the network, and therefore customers are now put in a situation where they risk being without TV and internet as of 1 December. We are really sorry about this,” says Lise Bering, Commercial Director at Stofa.
Stofa is in a situation where it has no other option than to terminate all customers on the network that AFAA takes over on 1 December.
“We have worked with AFAA to provide TV and internet to the association’s members for a very long time, and we feel a great responsibility towards the customers. We are therefore very disappointed that AFAA has terminated the cooperation, and this is a matter that we neither wanted nor initiated. But without an agreement with AFAA, we have no choice but to terminate the customers,” says Lise Bering.
The affected customers will receive either a letter or an email from Stofa in the next week or so, describing what they should do when the connection is closed on 1 December.
