Telefonica said the transaction was carried for a total consideration of $1.61 billion
Spanish operator Telefónica announced it has increased its ownership in Telefónica Deutschland from approximately 71.81% to approximately 93.10%, for a total consideration of EUR 1.48 billion ($1.61 billion).
The transaction, which was carried out through Telefónica Local Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telefónica, was funded entirely with cash.
The Spanish telco said that the end of the acceptance period of the offer was on January 17, 2024.
“The offer has been accepted by shareholders holding 7.86% of Telefónica Deutschland’s shares. In addition, since the offer was announced, Telefónica has acquired approximately 13.43% of the share capital and voting rights of Telefónica Deutschland. This includes the settlement of financial instruments that gave Telefónica the right to acquire approximately 1.32% of Telefónica Deutschland’s share capital,” the telco said.
“Given that no regulatory approval is needed for this transaction to be completed, Telefonica expects the settlement of the offer and the payment of the offer price to occur on January 26, 2024,” the carrier added.
Telefonica Deutschland recently said its 5G network currently reaches 95% of Germany’s population.
The carrier added 5G technology to around 3,000 locations since the beginning of 2023.
In October 2023, Telefonica Deutschland announced the launch of its 5G Standalone (SA) network in the country under the 5G Plus brand. Until this launch, the German telco had been offering 5G services through the NonStandalone (NSA) 5G architecture partly via its LTE/4G core network.
The telco noted that the new network will enable customers to have access to voice-over-new-radio (VoNR) technology, which enables them to make calls with even better voice quality over the 5G network.
The German telco said it has already been using the 5G SA technology in 5G campus networks for companies and public authorities since 2020. With this new launch, the company noted that more companies in different sectors such as industry, healthcare and the public sector will have access to improved connectivity.
The carrier’s 5G Plus uses frequencies in the 700 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands. The telco said it expects its 5G SA service to reach full coverage in Germany by the end of 2025.
Last year, O2 Telefónica and Ericsson had completed a proof of concept (PoC) with the aim of paving the way for the development of 5G cloud RAN technology in Europe.
The joint PoC deployment was carried out at O2 Telefónica’s Wayra innovation hub in Munich, where the partners showcased the capabilities of Ericsson’s first 5G cloud RAN installation in Europe. The PoC utilized a centralized control unit (CU) and used mmWave frequency to achieve an end-to-end speed of more than 4 Gbps, the vendor said.