Deutsche Telekom confirmed it was in active talks to sell its Dutch unit, signaling movement on Thursday on its portfolio of non-core assets as it reported a forecast-beating set of second-quarter results and raised its outlook.
Eurobites: EU launches twin-pronged probe into its use of cloud services lightreading.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lightreading.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
FILE PHOTO: A T-Mobile logo is advertised on a building sign in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - T-Mobile Netherlands said on Wednesday it will invest at least 700 million euros ($832 million) to build and offer fibre optic networks in Dutch cities together with Open Dutch Fibre, a joint venture between KKR Infrastructure and Deutsche Telecom Capital Partners.
The project aims to reach 1 million households within five years, it said.
T-Mobile competes against KPN and VodafoneZiggo in the Netherlands.
In March, KPN announced a 440 million euro partnership with pension fund giant ABP to speed up its fibre optic rollout, targeting customers in under-served areas.
15h | Melanie Mingas Investors KKR and DTCP have unveiled an independent wholesale fibre venture, which aims to deploy FTTH to a minimum one million homes by 2025 .
Known as Open Dutch Fiber, it will deliver broadband across urban and higher population density areas in the Netherlands. Operations will begin this quarter, with a fully-funded commitment for an envisaged capital expenditure of approximately €700 million and construction agreements already in place.
T-Mobile Netherlands has been confirmed as the anchor tenant. T-Mobile, which has signed up to a 20-year agreement, currently has a mobile base of 6.8 million customers and a fixed base of 682,000.
Open Dutch Fiber co-founder, Jordi Nieuwenhuis, said: High-quality and reliable fibre connectivity is essential for the Netherlands and this has only been accelerated with the structural changes to working patterns of companies and citizens brought about by the Covid-19 crisis. We are building a digital infrastruct