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Nowo Communications is Portugal’s fourth largest mobile operator
Romanian telco Digi has agreed to acquire Nowo Communications from Spain’s Masmovil for €150 million.
According to the announcement’s press release, Nowo has approximately 270,000 mobile users and 130,000 fixed clients. It also holds spectrum licenses in 1800 Mhz, 2600 MHz and 3600 MHz frequency bands.
The acquisition comes a month after the Portuguese competition authority, Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC), rejected Vodafone Portugal’s attempt to acquire Nowo.
Vodafone announced its intention to acquire Nowo in October 2022, but it quickly became clear that the AdC viewed the merger as potentially creating significant barriers to effective competition. Despite Vodafone submitting remedies to address these concerns, the AdC ultimately blocked the merger earlier this year.
Luís Lopes, Executive President of Vodafone Portugal, called the decision “bewildering”, noting that Nowo holds just a 2% market share.
Nonetheless, the AdC said “Nowo exerts considerable competitive pressure on the other market operators”, arguing that the merger would lead to reduced pressure and higher prices for customers.
There should be no such regulatory concerns facing Digi Portugal’s new bid for Nowo, however, with Digi being a relative newcomer to the Portuguese market. The operator is currently in the initial phases of its 5G network rollout, having won 5G spectrum licenses in 2021.
A merger with Nowo should allow Digi to compete more effectively with the existing market leaders – NOS, Altice (MEO), and Vodafone Portugal – therefore making it an attractive prospect for AdC.
The deal is subject to standard regulatory approval.
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