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Vodafone offers concessions to secure Unitymedia takeover

Vodafone commits to not restricting distribution of TV broadcasters' content for OTT services

Vodafone has offered concessions in its proposed acquisition of Unitymedia in order to secure approval from the European Commission.

The telco has concluded a cable wholesale agreement with Telefónica Deutschland, which means following the acquisition, Telefónica will be able to distribute its own cable products via the combined cable networks to a total of 23.7 million households with download speeds of up to 300Mbps.

Vodafone has also committed to not restricting the distribution of TV broadcasters’ content over the internet for OTT services and to design the network gateways in such a way that there is sufficient distribution capacity. Vodafone said that this should make broadcasters less dependent on the traditional cable TV network and thus on Vodafone.

Vodafone now expects the European Commission “to adopt its decision on the transaction by July 2019, with completion occurring later that month.”

The deal between Vodafone and Unitymedia’s owner Liberty Global was first announced in May 2018.