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PARIS, May 5 (Reuters) - Orange has already begundiscussions with several potential buyers for parts of Jazztel's fibre network, which it has agreed to sell to obtainregulatory approval for the takeover of the Spanish broadbandcompany.
Nicolas Laederich, an executive who handles regulatoryaffairs and competition issues for the French telecoms group,said the divestment would be paired with a promise to rent outcapacity on the company's fixed network to whoever buys thefibre assets.
European regulators have asked Orange to make theseconcessions as a condition of approving the 3.4 billion euro ($3.80 billion) deal to acquire Spanish broadband companyJazztel. The arrangement would bring back a fourth nationalcompetitor to Spain's broadband market.
Sources told Reuters last Thursday that European regulatorswould approve Orange's takeover of Jazztel.
Laederich said Orange would sell about 720,000 fibreconnections that Jazztel had installed in five cities includingMadrid, Barcelona and Valencia. The company that buys the fibreassets will also have the right to piggyback on Orange-Jazztel'sfixed network via a wholesale agreement so as to be able offerbroadband nationally.
"We have already had contacts with several interestedparties," the executive said by telephone.
"These remedies in no way undermine the attractiveness ofthe Jazztel acquisition for Orange."
About 60 percent of the fibre connections overlap withOrange's own network, he explained, and the goal of generating1.3 billion euros in cost savings from the Jazztel deal remains.
Orange clinched the Jazztel deal so as to keep up withSpain's leader Telefonica and Vodafone, whichboth already had presence in mobile and fixed. Spain is nowOrange's second most important market in terms of revenue andsales, after its home country of France.($1 = 0.8941 euros) (Reporting by Leila Abboud; Editing by Andrew Callus)
