Vodafone Portugal moved to boost its position in the market by acquiring Cabonitel, owner of fixed and mobile service provider Nowo, which it stated is the fourth-largest operator in the country.

In a statement, Vodafone explained it agreed the transaction with Masmovil’s majority shareholder Lorca JVCO: the Spanish operator reportedly completed an acquisition of Cabonitel earlier this year.

Financial details were not provided. Vodafone noted the deal is subject to customary closing conditions and it expects completion in the first half of 2023.

Mario Vaz, CEO of the Vodafone unit, explained the acquisition will boost its “customer base” and “fixed network coverage”.

Planned deployments of fibre “will benefit current and future users, by guaranteeing the quality and increased resilience” of the infrastructure.

Vodafone placed Nowo’s customer base at around 250,000 mobile and 140,000 for broadband and pay-TV services, with more than 1 million homes passed.

The operator expects the acquisition to enhance the scale and coverage of Nowo’s network, enabling it to solidify its customer base while spurring product innovations, future investment and high-speed internet connectivity.