Deutsche Telekom acquires UPC Austria for €1.9bn, appoints two new board members

Deutsche Telekom has strengthened its position in Austria with the €1.9bn acquisition of UPC Austria.

Through its subsidiary T-Mobile Austria, the telecommunications giant has acquired Austria's largest cable television operator, which holds 36% of its market in the country.

Expected to go head-to-head with leader A1 Telekom Austria, the new company will provide mobile and fixed-line broadband as well as IoT solutions and entertainment products.

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"With this acquisition Deutsche Telekom is taking another major step to realise our strategy to become a fully converged operator in our European footprint," said Deutsche Telekom board member Srini Gopalan.

"The acquired cable network will be a perfect match with our best mobile network. It will allow customers to benefit from extended scope of services with fixed and mobile offerings from one source. We see a significant potential to accelerate growth in the Austrian market."

Over the holiday period, Deutsche Telekom also announced changes to its Board of Directors, with Dirk Wössner taking over as Board member for Germany and Adel Al-Saleh taking over responsibility for T-Systems, the firm's corporate customer arm.