Altice open to consolidation opportunities

Altice Portugal is open to studying consolidation opportunities according to its CEO, Ana Figueiredo.

“From a regulatory point of view it is difficult to see the regulator allowing a consolidation operation”, she told journalists on Thursday.
“We are always open to exploring new opportunities if an opportunity makes sense from a strategic, operational, economic and financial point of view,” she said.
The Altice CEO said that because of pressure on margins and investment it was likely that there would be more consolidation in the industry. It is happening in Portugal with Vodafone’s purchase of Nowo, and in Spain and the United Kingdom, and would probably happen elsewhere in Europe.
Ana Figueiredo said it should happen even though Brussels had not, to date, been very keen on consolidations in the Telecoms sector.
“Europe has not been particularly in favour of consolidations, but I believe that because of these factors (pressures on margins and investment) we don’t want to see this industry lose competitiveness, and with Europe’s need for digital transition, consolidation in the sector will happen, one way or another”.