Telenet and Fluvius have received the green light from the European Commission to build the network of the future in Flanders and parts of Brussels.
This fulfils an important step to finalise the agreement and allows the new infrastructure company, currently under the working name NetCo, to effectively launch om early July 2023. Micha Berger will become CEO of NetCo as of closing of the transaction.
Telenet will have a 66.8% stake in NetCo with Fluvius owning the remaining 33.2%. NetCo will be fully funded with no dependency on obtaining incremental external financing.
NetCo intends to deploy a hybrid network strategy to enable speeds of up to 10 Gbps for all its customers. Up to 78% of all homes in Flanders and parts of Brussels are expected to be passed by FTTH, with the majority already in the first eight years. In other areas, NetCo will further upgrade and expand the technology of the HFC network. Together, this represents an investment of up to €2 billion.
NetCo will operate a fully open access network and will provide non-discriminatory access to it, providing wholesale access to interested retail telecommunications operators, including Telenet and Orange.
Commenting on the development, John Porter, CEO of Telenet, said: “I am very happy that the European Commission has given us the green light to build the network of the future together with Fluvius. Our networks are already 90% fibre today and thanks to this cooperation, we will soon also deploy fibre to the last mile where needed. This approval will give new impulses to our economy and will allow our region to take everyone on the digital highway”.
Frank Vanbrabant, CEO of Fluvius, added: “The European Commission approves the launch of NetCo, which is extremely good news. All the lights are now green: our joint subsidiary with Telenet can start operating in the coming weeks and prepare the roll-out of the data network of the future in the field. As a result, all Flemish families, companies, and authorities are ensured of high-performance data networks that fully support life and enterprise in our society. Not only today and tomorrow, but also the day after tomorrow”.
