Telefonica and Vodafone Find Partner to Speed Up Fiber Deployments

Telefonica and Vodafone Spain plan to accelerate fiber deployments by selling a stake in joint venture FiberPass to institutional investor AXA IM Alts. The companies stated the sale would position FiberPass to meet growing demand for FTTH services, boosting the quality and availability for consumer and business customers.

Proposed terms would see Telefonica retain control of FiberPass, with its stake reducing from 63% to 55%. Vodafone Spain’s holding would fall from 37% to 5%, with AXA IM Alts to then hold 40%. Telefonica noted 30% of its remaining stake would be held by its Spanish division and 25% its infrastructure unit. Vodafone Spain and Telefonica launched FiberPass in March. It currently passes 3.7 million premises and is used by 1.4 million of the operators’ customers. Financial institutions BBVA and Barclays advised Vodafone Spain and Telefonica Espana, with Rothschild & Co acting for AXA IM Alts.

Mark Gilligan, head of infrastructure at AXA IM Alts, said the company first invested in FTTH operations in 2018 and provides a service in France that passes 7 million homes. “Fiber-to-the-home is central to our digital infrastructure strategy,” he said, highlighting that demand is growing due to streaming and remote working, along with IoT uses. He said the FiberPass deal is a rare opportunity to scale in one of Europe’s most advanced FTTH markets and within a sector that is estimated to nearly double to $110 billion globally by 2030.