Vodafone Secures Cable Network Deal with Vonovia for 120,000 Residential Units

Vodafone has achieved a significant business success in a highly competitive market segment by securing a contract with Vonovia, one of Germany's largest residential real estate companies. As a result of this agreement, from July 2024, tenants of an additional 120,000 housing units will have the option to return to Vodafone's high-performance cable-fiber network. The digital infrastructure sector is notoriously competitive, a fact illustrated by the historic contract change in 2013. At that time, the contract held by former Deutsche Annington, now part of Vonovia, transitioned from UnityMedia—which has since become a part of Vodafone—to Deutsche Telekom. Although fiber-optic lines leading directly to apartments were promised at the time, these efforts often resulted in the traditional installation of copper lines. The new arrangement will provide Vonovia tenants with an expanded internet access offering and a new option for television reception via Vodafone's cable network in the future. This becomes particularly significant in light of an impending legal change that, from July, will no longer allow TV costs to be passed on to tenants. Consequently, tenants will soon have to independently address the issue of TV connections, which is significantly simplified by the contract between Vodafone and Vonovia. With the upcoming transition, Vodafone is offering Vonovia tenants the opportunity to directly enter into a contract for television reception via the cable network. Meanwhile, Vonovia has announced that it will proactively inform its tenants about the impending change and the new opportunities that come with it. However, tenants still retain the freedom to use DSL connections or opt for various online TV services such as Magenta TV by Deutsche Telekom, Zattoo, or Waipu.