Telenet to terminate MVNO deal with Orange

Liberty Global-backed Belgian cable operator Telenet has settled terms and conditions with Orange Belgium – the former Mobistar – for the termination of its full MVNO agreement with the operator.

The MVNO agreement provided Telenet with access to Orange Belgium’s network to provider mobile services. The agreement will now run to the end of 2018, with Telenet committing to a minimum payment to Orange of €150 million over that three-year period. After 2018, the pair have agreed an optional six-month extension period with a minimum payment of €15 million.

Telenet will progressively migrate its mobile customers to the network of BASE Company, the KPN Belgian subsidiary it acquired earlier this year.

The agreement with Orange will see the pair settle all outstanding legal disputes, including a dispute related to invoices issued under the MVNO agreement.

Jean Marc Harion, CEO Orange Belgium, said: “Over the past years our MVNO customers have been key business partners. Since 2012 we have fundamentally transformed our organization to become a leaner and more efficient company. Over the next years, we are set to grow our value share, by leveraging both the increasing customer appetite for mobile data and the positioning of Orange as a convergent operator in Belgium and Luxembourg. In the meantime, we are pleased to announce this agreement setting the terms of the termination of our Full MVNO contract with Telenet toward the end of 2018.”

John Porter, CEO Telenet: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Orange Belgium on the terms and conditions for the termination of the Full MVNO Agreement, including access to their network until the end of 2018 and the settlement of all outstanding legal disputes between both companies. Next to giving us flexibility to ensure a solid customer experience during the migration from Orange Belgium’s network to ours, the agreement also foresees access to the latest technologies rolled out on the Orange Belgium network. In the following years, we will systematically transfer customers to the Telenet network, allowing us to achieve annual run-rate synergies of €220.0 million by 2020, of which the vast majority is MVNO-related.”