VodafoneZiggo sells its cell towers: what does this mean for your IOT connectivity?

Organizations that connect all their devices through a single operator make the continuity of their application dependent on that operator’s strategy. And that strategy is increasingly driven by debt and stock market plans. VodafoneZiggo is selling its Dutch cell towers for approximately 669 million euros. According to VodafoneZiggo, customers will not notice any difference. For IoT applications that need to last for years, the deal does show how quickly ownership and priorities change hands in the telecom sector.

This blog in brief

• VodafoneZiggo is selling its passive mobile infrastructure to funds managed by DigitalBridge, TD Greystone Infrastructure and L&G.
• The proceeds reduce the debt of Ziggo Group, which is set to list on the Amsterdam stock exchange in mid-2027.
• Organizations deploying IoT at scale protect continuity with operator-independent IoT connectivity.

What does the sale of the VodafoneZiggo cell towers involve?

VodafoneZiggo has signed a conditional agreement with a company owned by funds managed by DigitalBridge, TD Greystone Infrastructure and L&G. The sale covers the passive mobile infrastructure: the towers and the sites where they stand. The active network and the spectrum remain with VodafoneZiggo, as does control over network quality.

VodafoneZiggo will continue to use the towers under long-term agreements, and the new owner will help build new sites. The deal still requires regulatory approval. After that, the sale is expected to close around the turn of 2026 to 2027.

Why is VodafoneZiggo selling its cell towers now?

VodafoneZiggo will use the proceeds to pay down the debt of Ziggo Group, the new holding company that brings together VodafoneZiggo and the Belgian operator Telenet. Parent company Liberty Global wants to list Ziggo Group on the Amsterdam stock exchange around mid-2027. With less debt on its balance sheet, Ziggo Group becomes more attractive to investors.

The buyers are combining the towers with Belgium Tower Partners, the Belgian tower company owned by DigitalBridge. This creates a single independent tower operator for the Netherlands and Belgium. It earns money from every operator that rents space on a tower, so the more operators per tower, the better.

What does the sale of cell towers mean for IoT connectivity?

Coverage and performance will not change for now. What matters is the long term. A rollout of smart meters, charging stations or trackers lasts five to ten years. In that time, operators get new owners, merge or go public. Each time, shareholders decide again where the money goes: which regions get extra capacity, where new towers are built and when older networks are switched off.

The phase-out of 2G and 3G already showed this, when the schedule of a single operator determined how long installed devices remained usable. Organizations with all their devices on one operator have to follow suit and have no say in the pace or direction. For applications that must run around the clock, the risk of outage then lies outside their own organization.

How do you set up operator-independent IoT connectivity?

Thingsdata is an independent value added reseller and is not tied to any operator. For each location, we select the network that performs best from multiple operators, with access to more than 650 networks. Our multi-network SIM cards are multi-roaming, so devices stay connected if a network goes down or an operator changes course.

With eSIM based on SGP.32, we switch remotely to a local network without anyone having to visit the site. In Thingsdata Control, we monitor the connection continuously and adjust it when coverage, costs or regulations require it. Thingsdata manages more than 1 million devices in 180+ countries and is ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified.

Would you like to know how dependent your devices are on your current operator? Contact us at +31-85-0443500 or info@thingsdata.com. We will map your network dependency and set up your IoT connectivity so that an outage at one operator does not bring your application to a halt.