Three has entered into an agreement with Telefonica to buy its O2 business in Ireland for €780 million. A further additional deferred payment of €70 million is payable dependent upon achievement of agreed financial targets. The acquisition of O2 will take Three’s market share to 37.5% and bring subscriber numbers to 2 million active users. The two companies had combined revenues of €803 million in 2012, which compares to Three’s revenue of €174 million in 2012 on a standalone basis.
According to a statement from Three, the combined business plans to invest strongly in creating a state of the art network including 4G/LTE over the next number of years.
Robert Finnegan, CEO, Three Ireland, said: "Increasing access to high quality, high speed networks for Irish businesses and consumers is an essential part of our national economic recovery. This deal will allow significant investment to be made in building a state of the art network. The combined network will also deliver very real benefits to customers outside the major urban areas as the increased scale will allow Three to extend its rural network investment programme beyond 2014."
The completion of this transaction is subject to competition approval.
TechCentral Reporters
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers