Vodafone Portugal and NOS are buddying up to deploy and share a fibre-to-the-home network for around 2.6 million homes and businesses in Portugal.

Marketing of services across the joint network will commence from the beginning of 2018, with both parties remaining completely independent when it comes to the retail offers. The network itself will reach a total of 2.6 million homes and businesses, but it is worth noting this number is not entirely greenfield; some will be existing areas on the network.

The partnership itself could prove to be a useful little boost for Vodafone, which currently has 550,000 fixed broadband customers. Vodafone Portugal’s current fibre-to-the-home deployment programme has the potential to reach 2.7 million homes, though this will put another 1.3 million homes within the grasp of the telco. Vodafone claims the 4 million wide footprint represents around 80% of the households in the country.

The move is pretty consistent with the general expansion plans at Vodafone which we have seen across Europe in recent months. The company’s fixed infrastructure strategy is a ‘mix of build, strategic partnerships, wholesale and buy approaches’, which could be viewed as a reasonable means to expand without spending too much. Another example of this strategy in action is in Germany, where it has launched an assault on the Giga-wannabees without reaching too deep in the pocket.

Aside from being fixed buddies, the partnership will also extend to mobile infrastructure, with a minimum of 200 mobile towers to be shared.

“This agreement represents a very important step in our commitment to Portugal and to the Portuguese people,” said Miguel Almeida, CEO of NOS.

“With the expansion of our next generation fibre footprint and reinforcement of our mobile coverage, we will not only be fulfilling our commitment to invest and create conditions for Portuguese businesses to embrace the challenges of digital transformation, but we will also be providing Portuguese families with the best choice of commercial offers and service quality available.”