Ziggo Buying T-Mobile Unit

T-Mobile is believed to have struck a deal to sell part of its Dutch fixed-line broadband internet unit to Ziggo. The unit being sold was part of what it acquired when it bought Orange Netherlands last year.

Ziggo has confirmed reports it is interested in the 140,000 customers that receive broadband over cable that T-Mobile is trying to offload. T-Mobile will retain Dutch broadband customers who get the internet through telephone wires, thought to number around 460,000.

Ziggo is co-owned by private equity firms Cinven and Warburg Pincus. It was formed through the merger of cable TV companies Casema, Multikabel and Essent Kabelcom.

T-Mobile is owned by Deutsche Telekom. It acquired Orange's Dutch business in 2007 for US$2bn. Orange is owned by France Telecom.

Source: Thomson Merger News