Fiber optic expansion in this country costs money, lots of money. Reason for a lot of companies to get investors on board, providing lots of cash that should eventually pay off at a good rate of interest. Many smaller fiber optic companies have started out brisk and stuck. They are now searching for partners, merging or giving up.

Investors asked

Deutsche Telekom also began its search for investors and found the Australian Mutual Fund (IFM), with which it created Fiber Plus, which is especially suited for expanding outside metropolitan areas.

A picture from better days: Berlin Economy Senator Giffey with Michael Jungwirth (Vodafone) and Stefan Rter (CCO OXG) in Berlin-Charlottenburg
Photograph: Picture Alliance / dpa


Vodafone did not hesitate to find the French Altice Group as a partner, and the joint undertaking was created in 2023 and named “OXG”.

Handelsblatt: Altice wants out of OXG?

But now this Vodafone joint venture could break apart again because, reports the well informed business daily Handelsblatt, Altice wants to exit the company “sooner rather than later”. Altice wants to find a purchaser of its shares, Handelsblatt wants to have “three people with knowledge of the negotiations”. Officially, Vodafone wants to say nothing, but this: “A sale of the shares by Altice requires our agreement.” For Altice the request of Handelsblatt was rather ignored.

A Vodafone spokesman stressed, however, that OXG is independent and has a “continuous credit facility of 4.6 billion euros” to secure investments in the fibre optic infrastructure for the next six years. Deutsche Bahn has already started roll-out in 21 cities, according to people in Dusseldorf, where the short-lived head of Vodafone Germany, Philippe Rogge, declared 150 cities until the end of 2024.

Handelsblatt polled some industry experts who unanimously agreed that fibre optic is strategically important for the future of Vodafone.

Internal problems with Altice?

What Handelsblatt does not mention in its report is that Altice appears to have serious problems internally. For example, last year the deputy boss of Altice, Alexandre Fonseca, was dismissed following an investigation into alleged corruption at its Portuguese subsidiary. He was boss there from November 2017 to April 2022, but was never considered a suspect.

Altice operates in France the mobile phone network SFR, which historically has been a close friend of Vodafone but was never part of the Vodafone group. In France the “Free” operator triggered a price war that is very serious for all providers there.

Coaxial vs. True Fiber

Vodafone operates several large coax cable TV networks in Germany (Vodafone calls them “coax fiber”) according to the DOCSIS protocol, partially connected via fiber optic cable but not consisting entirely of fiber optic lines. Because coax networks are prone to overload, the so-called clusters (interconnecting local users) have been reduced in size, which again cannot be achieved cheaply. Koax customers complain about overloaded lines; they oppose a theoretically high downstream rate (up to 1 GB / s) with low upstream rates.

Experts: Require full replacement with fiber optic

Experts believe that sooner or later Vodafone will have to completely replace its entire coaxial cable network with fibre optic.

Even while new areas of optical fiber are being developed (Vodafone was at times concentrated only in industrial or commercial areas), there are often delays or technical difficulties, and it is hard to find suitable construction companies while costs are exploding. With possible private customers, there are also overzealous doorstep sellers who promise impossible things, which is why many customers have become overcautious about fiber.

Vodafone wants to fill the fibre optic gaps with drones.