On Wednesday, Belgian full-service provider Telenet and Flemish utility group Fluvius received formal approval from the EC for their planned fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network joint venture. Telenet said the approval completes an important step in finalizing the agreement and allows for the effective launch of the parties' new infrastructure company, currently working under the name NetCo, in early July.
The partners announced an agreement in July 2022 to jointly build the "network of the future" and deploy a hybrid network strategy to deliver speeds of up to 10Gbps to all their customers. Up to 78% of homes in Flanders and parts of Brussels are expected to be fiber optic, most of which will be covered within the first eight years. In other areas, NetCo will further upgrade and expand the technology of its Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) network. In total, the partners will invest up to 2 billion euros ($2.14 billion). NetCo will operate a fully open access network, providing non-discriminatory wholesale access to interested retail telecom operators, including Telenet and Orange Belgium.
I am delighted that the European Commission has given us the green light to build the network of the future with Fluvius," said John Porter, Telenet's Chief Executive Officer. Today, our network is already 90 percent fiber and, thanks to this partnership, we will soon also be deploying fiber to the last mile where it is needed. This approval will give a new impetus to our economy and will allow our region to put everyone on the digital highway.
Telenet and Fluvius are now expected to complete the transaction on July 1, 2023, following approval by the European Commission. 66.8 percent of NetCo will be owned by Telenet and the remaining 33.2 percent by Fluvius. Telenet said NetCo will be fully funded and not dependent on obtaining incremental external financing.
