Vodafone on Friday announced an agreement to acquire the operator Nowo, and the process is scheduled to be completed during the first half of 2023.

“Vodafone Portugal has entered into an agreement with Llorca JVCO Limited, a shareholder in Másmóvil Ibercom, SA (“Másmóvil”), to purchase Cabonitel SA, owner of Nowo Communications (“Nowo”), which is subject to necessary regulatory approval,” the operator announced on Friday.

The Mario Vaz-led company says Vodafone’s acquisition of Nowo’s operation enhances its competitiveness in the market and creates conditions “for more efficient investments in high-speed communication networks, as well as in the development of innovative products and services”. “The acquisition of Nowo will allow Vodafone to increase its customer base, as well as the coverage of its fixed network. The future modernization of the acquired network of the new generation of optical fibers will benefit current and future users, by ensuring the quality and increasing the resilience of this infrastructure”, says CEO of Vodafone Portugal .

Nowo, formerly Cabovisão, currently has about 250,000 mobile subscribers and 140,000 fixed access customers (Pay TV and Broadband) in nearly one million homes covered by the telecommunications infrastructure.

The agreement must now be submitted to the Competition Authority (AdC), which will then ask the regulator Anacom for its opinion. Although it is mandatory to seek an opinion, it is not binding, and the final decision is up to AdC.