It has entered a preliminary agreement with PPC Group in Greece to form a 50:50 JV of their fibre assets and businesses, and is reportedly bidding for TalkTalk’s consumer broadband unit
Vodafone Greece and Public Power Corporation, better known as PPC Group, have entered into a preliminary agreement to form a 50:50 joint venture for FTTH. Under the proposed deal, the two will merge their networks and wholesale fibre businesses into a single entity.
Collectively, Vodafone Greece and PPC Group’s fibre businesses cover more than 1.6 million premises. The JV would offer wholesale open access to internet service providers in Greece.
The formation of the JV is subject to due diligence and subject to customary conditions including regulatory approvals. Vodafone says it “expects to provide a further update in due course”. Last month Vodafone announced it would take full control of VodafoneThree – which was allowed for in the conditions of the merger – sooner rather than later.
Vodafone bids for TalkTalk assets in UK
Earlier this week, VodafoneThree reportedly bid for the consumer operations of UK rival TalkTalk. A Financial Times article [subscription needed] said the rationale is for VodafoneThree, now the UK’s biggest operator, to accelerate its progress into providing broadband. VodafoneThree said it wants to double its UK broadband base to 4 million premises passed by the 2030s.
TalkTalk has about 1.75 million customers and is auctioning its consumer division. After an inititial decision not to engage, VodafoneThree took part in the second round of bidding last week, according to unnamed sources cited by the FT. The value of the consumer business is not precise – valued at between £200 million and £300 million.
TalkTalk is also seeking a buyer for its wholesale division, PXC.
TalkTalk group was bought for £1.1 billion by London-based hedge fund Toscafund in 2021, which added £527 million debt to its balance sheet in a time of rising interest rates. Last year Openreach reportedly threatened not to connect any more TalkTalk customers to its network because of late payments by the service provider. That was also reported in the FT.
