Belgian carrier Proximus is reportedly preparing to sell its mobility subsidiary Be-Mobile.
As reported by Belgian publication De Tijd, several sources have said that Proximus is looking to shift Be-Mobile in order to fund its rollout of fiber optic cables.
Be-Mobile is known for operating a system that allows motorists to pay for parking spaces by sending a text message to the number 4411 upon arrival and departure.
Proximus acquired a majority stake in Be-Mobile back in 2016, and owns around 93 percent of the company's shares. The remaining stake (7.3 percent) is in the hands of CEO and co-founder Jan Cools.
It's not reported how much money Proximus is looking to sell its majority stake for, although De Tijd reports that the sale is part of Proximus' broader plan to free up €500 million ($534m) for investments in fiber optics.
As of the end of September, Proximus' fiber rollout has reached more than two million premises across Belgium. The company has 519,000 fiber subscribers at present.
Last month, Proximus sold its data centers to local operator Datacenter United (DC United) in a sale-leaseback deal.
As part of the deal, Datacenter United took over four facilities in a deal valued at €128 million ($138.5m). The transaction is expected to close by Q1 2025.
“The decision to cooperate with an external partner on our data center housing and infrastructure business is a key milestone in our asset divestment plan,” said Guillaume Boutin, Proximus Group CEO last month.
