MADRID, 17 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Vodafone and Altice have reached an agreement to create a 50/50 joint venture with the aim of deploying fiber to the home (FTTH) to serve up to 7 million homes in Germany within six years, thus the British operator will receive from the company controlled by Patrick Drahi up to 1,200 million euros.

Specifically, as part of the agreement, Vodafone is expected to receive cash proceeds from Altice of up to €1.2 billion, including an initial payment of €120 million at the closing of the transaction, as well as additional payments of up to a total of €487 million. euros as the deployment progresses and another 595 million depending on the performance of the company.

During the deployment period, the 'joint venture' intends to invest up to 7,000 million euros, of which 70% is expected to be financed with debt that will be without recourse to Vodafone and Altice.

"This significant infrastructure investment supports the country's social, economic and digital development and the German Government's broadband ambitions as part of Europe's Digital Decade goals," said Nick Read, Vodafone Group CEO.

"We have pioneered fiber joint ventures in France and Portugal and are therefore delighted to be able to replicate it in Germany with such a partner," added David Drahi, Co-CEO of Altice.