FastFiber and Vauban bid for DSTelecom

FastFiber and Vauban Infrastructure Partners have both entered the binding offer phase to acquire 100% of DSTelecom, Portugal's largest wholesale telecommunications operator, with at least two candidates currently undergoing due diligence.

The sale covers the entirety of DSTelecom. Cube Infrastructure Fund II, which acquired 54% of DSTelecom in 2018, is selling its stake after roughly eight years. The Braga-based DST Group, led by the Gonçalves Teixeira family and holding the remaining 46%, is also selling. No deal value has been disclosed.

DSTelecom builds and operates open-access FTTH networks across Portugal under a neutral wholesale model, supplying dark fibre, bitstream, and RFoG access to retail operators including MEO, NOS, and Vodafone Portugal. It does not sell directly to consumers. Its network already covers one million homes across 153 municipalities and 157 industrial parks, with a particular focus on less densely populated areas where retail operators would not otherwise invest. The company reported 2024 consolidated turnover of €54.7 million, up approximately 12.1% year-on-year, and EBITDA of €35.8 million, representing an EBITDA margin of approximately 65.4%.

The valuation context matters. When Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners acquired a 49.99% stake in FastFiber in 2020, that transaction was priced at a 20x EBITDA multiple, establishing a public benchmark for Portuguese wholesale fibre assets. With DSTelecom now generating €35.8 million in EBITDA and growing at double digits, Cube's exit aligns with peak European market conditions for open-access fibre disposals.

FastFiber is the other major wholesale fibre operator in Portugal, created through a partnership between Altice Portugal and Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, which owns 49.99%. Altice holds 50.01%. FastFiber's network passes approximately four million homes, concentrated in higher-density urban areas. Its CEO is Pedro Rocha. DSTelecom's coverage sits largely in the territories FastFiber does not serve, meaning the two networks are functionally complementary rather than overlapping.

Vauban Infrastructure Partners is a French fund management company and subsidiary of the Natixis group, focused on long-term investment in essential infrastructure. It already holds minority stakes in Portuguese transport concessionaires Via Expresso and Via Litoral, and acquired the Baixo Alentejo road sub-concession in 2020. In a parallel process, Vauban was among the shortlisted parties to submit a binding offer for XpFibre, Altice's French wholesale fibre unit, signalling a deliberate pan-European strategy for wholesale fibre assets across 2025 and 2026. In December 2024, Vauban led a consortium to acquire 100% of Cellnex's Austrian tower business, approximately 4,600 sites, for €803 million.

DSTelecom's structural position rests on geography and public mandate. A portion of its network operates under gap-funding contracts with the Portuguese government, covering approximately 20% of national territory deemed commercially non-viable for unsubsidised private deployment. Those contracts cannot be easily replicated by a new entrant. Any change of control will require review by the Portuguese telecoms regulator ANACOM to confirm continuity of those public-service coverage obligations.

If FastFiber wins the process, Portugal's entire national wholesale fibre layer consolidates under a single Altice and Morgan Stanley-influenced operator. FastFiber's four million urban homes passed and DSTelecom's one million rural and semi-rural homes across 153 municipalities would sit within the same ownership structure, giving MEO's parent company structural leverage over every retail operator in Portugal that depends on wholesale access to reach underserved geographies.

That regulatory question, and the identity of the winning bidder, will determine whether Portugal's open-access fibre model remains contested or becomes structurally concentrated at the infrastructure layer.