German Federal Cartel Office approves acquisition of cable networks serving 1.1 million connected TV households
- By integrating the cable networks Kabel Deutschland creates more competition in Internet and telephony markets
- Approximately one million households for the first time will have access to Kabel Deutschland’s triple play offerings comprising digital TV, Internet and telephony
The German Federal Cartel Office has given Kabel Deutschland (KDG) the green light to purchase cable networks serving approximately 1.1 million connected cable households. With the transaction KDG predominantly increases its direct customer access.
The cable assets were sold by the Orion-Group. Closing of the transaction is expected to take place towards the end of April 2008. The connected households are located in the federal states of Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein.
“The deal that has been approved today will provide many cable customers with an attractive alternative to DSL offerings for the first time. We appreciate that the Federal Cartel Office’s decision takes into consideration our high investments in network upgrades. More and more of our customers decide in favour of KDG’s Internet and telephony product offers. This shows the enormous potential of the cable TV infrastructure”, says Kabel Deutschland’s Chief Executive Officer Adrian v. Hammerstein.
Kabel Deutschland sees today’s approval of this transaction as an important milestone to strengthen its end customer business. Once KDG has integrated its newly acquired cable networks, it will supply over 80 percent of its customer base directly and via housing associations. Thus, the acquisition will create the structural preconditions for a further dynamic growth in our Internet and telephony business. During the quarter ended December 31, 2007, twelve percent of the Company’s overall subscription based revenues were generated from Internet and telephony products (previous year’s same quarter six percent).
KDG will be offering its Internet and telephony products to the new customers as soon as possible. “We will be approaching our customers proactively to introduce our highly attractive products to them”, says CEO Hammerstein.