Liberty Networks Germany Appoints Christian Böing as CEO
Liberty Networks Germany, the joint venture (JV) launched last year by Liberty Global Ventures and InfraVia Capital Partners to build a new full-fibre network in Germany, has today announced the appointment of Dr. Christian Böing as Chief Executive Officer.
Christian Böing’s previous roles include CEO of web-hosting company Strato AG and Deputy CEO of web hosting company IONOS. Prior to that, he held roles at communications company Telegate, 1&1 and Vodafone. He has a strong background in marketing and sales and is currently a member of the advisory board at the SaaS company rankingCoach and at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Muenster.
Robert Dunn, Managing Director, Connectivity Investments, Liberty Global, comments: ‘Christian is a top-class CEO who will enable Liberty Networks Germany in its mission to roll out powerful full-fibre broadband in underserved regions of the country. The JV will benefit hugely from both his leadership and marketing and sales expertise as they continue to build partnerships with municipalities to deliver powerful full-fibre broadband infrastructure to the parts of Germany that need it the most.”
Liberty Networks Germany is building out full-fibre broadband networks in areas with low availability of gigabit broadband services. Construction of the first networks will commence in August 2022. Once built, the services will be marketed and sold under the new ‘HelloFiber’ brand. The first HelloFiber customers are due to be connected later in 2022 in Rems-Murr and Esslingen in the Stuttgart region.
Since launch, Liberty Networks Germany has agreed new build projects with municipalities in Germany totalling circa 20,000 homes. In addition, it currently is in active discussions to secure further qualifying pipeline in 350 underserved municipalities.
To fund its ambition to build out a leading full-fibre broadband network in Germany, Liberty Networks Germany is in the process of raising finance, leveraging the long-standing expertise of its shareholders in financing critical broadband infrastructure projects throughout Europe.
Bruno Candès, Partner, InfraVia Capital Partners, said: “Liberty Networks Germany is of strategic importance and we are very pleased to welcome Christian as CEO, who will be able to leverage on his technology and infrastructure background to support the shareholders’ vision.”
Having operated German connectivity provider Unitymedia for a decade, Liberty Global brings extensive experience of the German market to the JV. Germany regularly ranks at the bottom of international comparisons when it comes to fibre coverage. The expansion of the fibre optic network is considered one of the most urgent infrastructure projects in order to advance the competitiveness of Germany as a business location and the modernization of the country.
