Telekom Austria acquires Croatian cable network

Telekom Austria has acquired Croatia’s largest cable operator B.net.

The transaction was carried out by Telekom Austria’s Croatian subsidiary Vipnet in a deal worth €93 million.

“Fixed-to-mobile convergence has turned into a fundamental business driver in the telecommunications industry and represents an important strategic pillar for the Telekom Austria Group. The acquisition of a cable operator will enable Vipnet to profit from the expected strong growth of fixed net broadband, TV and convergent products and to position itself as convergent service provider on the Croatian market,” said Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO of Telekom Austria Group.

Telekom Austria said the deal was part of its strategy to converge fixed network and mobile services beyond Austria. B.net offers fixed net voice telephony, broadband and TV services with a focus on the residential customer segment, in which it has 120,000 subscribers. The cable operator’s market share in the fixed net broadband space amounts to 7% and in the pay TV business to 22%. In 2010, B.net reported revenues of €28.3 million and EBITDA of €8.2 million.