LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - Vodafone Group Plc isscaling back the fibre network it is building in Spain withFrance's Orange, after the completion of its deal tobuy cable company Ono.
Vodafone and Orange agreed to work together in March 2013 toreach an initial 3 million properties next year, and eventuallysome 6 million by 2017, for a total investment of 1 billioneuros.
The British company said on Wednesday it would continue tobuild a network with Orange to serve 2 million homes, and itwould offer the Ono network on a wholesale basis to Orange for afurther 1 million properties.
Shares in broadband telecoms provider Jazztel slipped on the news as it is often seen as a possible takeovercandidate for the French company.
Vodafone said the joint deployment had already reached800,000 premises across 12 Spanish cities, and the network wouldbe extended to reach a further 1.2 million premises in areaswhere the Ono high-speed network was not present.
One year after signing the agreement with Orange, Vodafoneagreed to buy Ono, Spain's largest cable operator, for 7.2billion euros, in a deal that will enable it to better competewith Spanish telecoms market leader Telefonica.
The deal, which received European Commission approvalearlier this month, closed on Wednesday. (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton)
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