Vodafone Group has completed the acquisition of Liberty Global’s operations in Germany and the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania (CEE) as part of the transformation strategy to become the leading converged operator in Europe.

The enterprise value of the deal was €18.4 billion.

Vodafone has 54 million cable and fibre households in Europe. Its next-generation network reaches 124 million homes and businesses. Almost half of Vodafone’s consumer European service revenues now come from growing fixed and converged services.

Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read said: “We reshaped our business, becoming the owner of the largest gigabit-capable next generation network infrastructure in the region.”

Vodafone Group earlier said it completed the sale of 100 percent stake in Vodafone New Zealand to a consortium comprising Infratil and Brookfield Asset Management for a cash consideration of €2.1 billion.

Vodafone and Vodafone New Zealand have now entered into a Partner Market agreement, which includes use of the Vodafone brand, preferential roaming arrangements, access to Vodafone’s IoT platform and central procurement function, and a range of services for the business and consumer markets.

Vodafone will use proceeds from the sale to reduce Vodafone’s net debt.