The transaction is just the first of an expansion roadmap in which Altitude Infrastructure plans to invest €100 million over the next five years to accelerate Kosc Telecom development to better serve its carrier customers' growth.
David Elfassy, Chairman of Altitude Infrastructure and Kosc, said: “With this takeover, we are asserting our determination to fight to get lines moving in the French business telecoms market. We are fortunate to be part of a family group, solid and conquering, which will put all its experience at Kosc's disposal.
“We are going to invest €100 million over the next five years to make a lasting impact on the B2B fibre market. This takeover corresponds to a real "time to market": the transition of French-based companies to fibre is now”.
Historically specialised in Public Initiative Networks (“Réseaux d’Initiative Privée”, in French, also known as “RIP”), Altitude Infrastructure deploys fibre in low-density areas. Under its new umbrella company, Kosc Telecom will continue to pave the way for the digitisation of businesses in France, leveraging Altitude Infrastructure’s expertise and resources.
Dorothée Lebarbier, managing director of Altitude, said: “With this acquisition, Altitude takes over a very high-speed infrastructure that was historically built and designed to irrigate businesses nationwide. The health crisis we are going through has further highlighted the need for French-based companies of all sizes to have access to high-quality broadband coverage in all areas of the country.
“Supporting Kosc's activity enables us to offer these companies the tools to succeed in their digitalisation and, in the present context, in their economic recovery.”
Sharing the same wholesale-only DNA, Altitude Infrastructure currently owns three million plugs, which correspondent to nearly 10% of French households.
Kosc Telecom is the “ubiquitous one-stop-shop” for business carriers, thanks to a wide range of high and very high-speed connectivity - broadband and fibre - services, with nationwide availability. As of 2020, 10 million E-Access Fibre lines and 12 million Best-Effort Fibre lines are available mainland.
Antoine Fournier (pictured), CEO of Kosc Telecom, said: “This move by Altitude Infrastructure is a strong recognition of the value Kosc Telecom have created with its 50 customers in barely four years, as the French wholesale-only CaaS - Connectivity as a Service - provider. It also reinforces a common vision of a strong wholesale-only model that both Altitude Infrastructure and Kosc Telecom share.”
