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Open Dutch Fiber will be majority owned by KKR, with Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners Management (DTCP) as a minority stakeholder, and has already signed a deal with T-Mobile Netherlands
Today sees investment firm KKR announce the creation of a new wholesale fibre company, Open Dutch Fiber, aiming to deliver a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network covering at least one million Dutch homes by 2025. T-Mobile Netherlands will be the company’s anchor tenant, having signed a strategic agreement for the next 20 years. T-Mobile Netherland’s currently has around 682,000 fixed line customers.
The new venture is majority owned by KKR, while DTCP owns a minority stake. The business will focus primarily on urban and high population density areas, both residential and business premises. The network will begin to be rolled out in Q2 of this year, with plans to invest around €700 million.
The operation will be led by a pair of fibre veterans in the form of the previous co-CEO’s of Germany’s Deutsche Glasfaser, Jordi Nieuwenhuis and Uwe Nickl.
"High-quality and reliable fiber connectivity is essential for the Netherlands and this has only been accelerated with the structural changes to working patterns of companies and citizens brought about by the COVID-19 crisis,” explained co-founder Nieuwenhuis. “We are building a digital infrastructure platform with open access to all operators, to ensure an efficient and rapid deployment of capital resources, while avoiding uneconomical overbuild. We look forward to making a significant contribution to the digitization of the Netherlands to benefit Dutch households and businesses.”
That KKR is focussing on fibre infrastructure in numerous markets across Europe is plain to see, with additional investments in the UK’s Hyperoptic as well as Italy’s burgeoning FiberCop network. The investment firm also owned a majority stake in Deutsche Glasfaser in Germany from 2015, until selling the business to EQT and Omers for €2.8 billion at the start of 2020.
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