French telco reportedly eyeing KPN and Proximus
French telecommunications group Orange is eyeing potential acquisitions in the European market with Dutch telecom services provider KPN and Belgium telco Proximus Group among the targeted firms, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
However, the sources said the exploration of potential acquisitions is in a preliminary stage and there will not be any imminent agreement. The sources added the French telco is also analyzing a potential deal with compatriot Bouygues Telecom or Telecom Italia.
“Orange wants to swallow rather than be swallowed,” a source close to Orange said.
KPN provides mobile, fixed and broadband services and operates in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France and Spain. The Dutch operator also owns U.S. company IBasis, a provider of wholesale international IP telephony services. In the Dutch market, KPN leads the mobile market with the KPN Mobile and Telfort commercial brands.
The Proximus Group is the largest telecommunications player in Belgium. Proximus Group is primarily state owned, with the Belgian government holding 53.3% of the shares. Proximus Group offers mobile and fixed services under the Proximus brand and ICT services to the corporate segment under the Telindus brand. Proximus initially launched commercial LTE services in December 2012. The telco offers LTE access across Belgium through spectrum in the 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
Orange expects to invest 15 billion euros ($16.3 billion) between 2015 and 2018, the company’s SVP of Radio Networks Arnaud Vamparys recently said during a keynote speech at Huawei’s Global Mobile Broadband Forum 2015, which took place last month in Hong Kong. The executive said a total of 5 billion euros will be invested in the company’s mobile networks during the period. Vamparys also said that the operator’s goal is to reach coverage of more than 95% in its European operation with LTE services and LTE-Advanced in the main cities.
MBNL renews managed services deal with Ericsson
In other EMEA news, MBNL, a joint venture between U.K. mobile operators Three UK and EE, renewed and expanded its managed services agreements with Swedish vendor Ericsson for three more years. The new agreement includes design, planning and deployment.
Ericsson will continue to be responsible for delivery of central operations and transmission, network performance and optimization, field services and multi-vendor spare parts management services.
Three UK and EE had signed network consolidation agreement in 2007.
