Vodafone has concluded a significant infrastructure contract with one of Germany's largest housing companies, Vonovia. From July 2024, an additional 120,000 Vonovia housing units will have the possibility of returning to Vodafone's cable fiber-optic network, as both companies announced on Monday.
The housing market segment for broadband internet and TV has been fiercely contested for years. In 2013, the then UnityMedia, now part of Vodafone, lost a major contract from Deutsche Annington - today Vonovia - to Deutsche Telekom. Originally, the plan was for Telekom to lay fiber optic cables up to the rental apartments (FTTH). However, in many cases, this remained at conventional copper lines (DSL).
For the affected Vonovia tenants, the new agreement means that they will be able to access the internet via Vodafone's cable network in the future. Moreover, they can obtain the signal for television reception from Vodafone's cable outlet.
The supply agreement represents an important success for Vodafone in a challenging market environment. From July 2024, the costs for TV reception may no longer be passed on to tenants through the ancillary costs. Instead of having a TV connection automatically through the landlord, tenants must look for alternatives themselves or voluntarily join a collective order. This agreement with Vonovia significantly facilitates this process.
At the time of the switch, affected Vonovia tenants can enter into a direct contract with Vodafone if they wish to receive TV via the cable network. Vonovia is currently informing affected tenants about the timing of the switch and the new offers. Alternatively, tenants can keep their existing, slower DSL connection and watch television over the internet via Magenta TV from Deutsche Telekom or online services such as Zattoo and Waipu.
In XETRA trading on Monday, Vonovia shares temporarily gained 0.65 percent to 28.03 euros after initial losses. Trading did not take place on the London Stock Exchange due to a holiday, which is why the Vodafone share could not react to the news at the start of the week.
