Vodafone, NOS eye Portugal’s Cabovisão
June 8, 2015
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
Vodafone Portugal and NOS are each considering the purchase of the Portuguese telecom assets of France’s Altice, that it has offered for sale, after acquiring PT Portugal.
The assets consist of cable TV operator Cabovisão, and Oni, a provider of telecommunications services for business customers.
According to local daily Jornal de Negocios, in the eyes of the European competition regulator, which imposed the sale of the two companies by Altice in order to avoid market concentration, the deal could be easier for Vodafone Portugal, as it has a lower market share.
However, if NOS gets the upper hand in the direct negotiations with Altice, the deal is likely to be blocked, since it would allow the company to own more than 50 per cent of the pay-TV and mobile broadband sectors in Portugal
Although the figures requested by Altice for the closure of the deal have not been made public, it is known that Cabovisão is valued at about €300 million.