Vodafone Portugal to buy country’s fourth largest telecoms operator Nowo

  • Lusa
  • 3 October 2022

According to Vodafone, "the transaction will have to wait for the necessary regulatory approval, and it is expected that it can be concluded during the first half of 2023".

Vodafone Portugal has signed an agreement to buy the company Cabonitel, which owns Nowo, in an operation expected to be completed in the first half of 2023, according to a statement released on Friday.

In the statement, Vodafone announced that it “has entered into an agreement with Llorca JVCO Limited, shareholder of Másmóvil Ibercom, S.A., for the purchase of Cabonitel S.A., owner of Nowo Communications, which is subject to the necessary regulatory approval”.

According to the disclosed information, “Nowo is the fourth largest convergent operator in Portugal, with approximately 250 thousand mobile subscribers and 140 thousand fixed access clients (Pay TV and Broadband) in approximately one million homes covered with its communications infrastructure”.

Vodafone, which did not disclose the amount involved in the acquisition, also highlighted that the acquisition of Nowo’s operation “strengthens its competitiveness in the market, providing it with greater scale and coverage, with benefits for current and future customers, as well as for the sector”, adding that “it also creates the conditions for more efficient investments in high-speed connectivity networks, as well as in the development of innovative products and services”.

According to the operator, “the transaction will have to wait for the necessary regulatory approval, and it is expected that it can be concluded during the first half of 2023”.

Quoted in the same statement, Mário Vaz, chief executive officer (CEO) of Vodafone Portugal said that “the acquisition of Nowo will allow Vodafone to increase its customer base as well as its fixed network coverage”, stressing that “the future upgrade of the acquired network to new generation fibre optics will benefit current and future users by ensuring the increased quality and resilience of this infrastructure”.