Vodafone, Orange update FTTH agreement following Ono deal

 

Vodafone Spain and Orange Spain have announced an update to their 2013 deal to jointly invest in bringing FTTH access to 3 million Spanish homes by September 2015. The renegotiation was prompted by Vodafone's EU7.2 billion takeover of Spanish cable provider Ono, which was approved by the EU earlier this month without conditions.

The acquisition of Ono gave Vodafone immediate access to Ono's extensive fibre network covering 7.2 million Spanish homes, raising questions about the continued validity of the co-investment deal with Orange.

However, under the terms of the newly-amended agreement the total number of homes and businesses to be jointly accessed by the two companies will remain at 3 million. Vodafone and Orange will collectively build FTTH to 2 million premises across Spain. As the joint deployment has already reached 800,000 premises across 12 Spanish cities, this means that the companies will jointly deploy fibre to an additional 1.2 million premises in areas where Ono's network is not present by September 2015.

In addition, Vodafone will provide Orange with wholesale access to 1 million homes using the Ono network, taking the overall number of jointly accessed premises to the total of 3 million.

The amended agreement also provides a mechanism for Vodafone and Orange to provide each other with wholesale access to future FTTH deployments across Spain on a reciprocal basis.

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