Cegeka buys Citymesh and starts a battle for 5G in companies

With the acquisition of the Bruges network specialist Citymesh, the Hasselt IT group Cegeka opens the battle for the roll-out of the superfast mobile internet 5G in the business world.

Timing battle in telecom land. The Hasselt IT group Cegeka acquires the majority of the Bruges network specialist Citymesh. Since this summer, Cegeka has held provisional rights of use for the radio band that is reserved for 5G, the super-fast mobile internet that can be 20 to 30 times faster at peak than its predecessor 4G. Citymesh had already acquired a piece on the tire in 2015.

The joining of forces has resulted in a formidable 5G competitor for the three traditional operators – Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet – and the Bruges Entropia as well. In an initial response, Citymesh and Cegeka make it clear that they want to be a real ‘industrial operator’; they mainly want to roll out their 5G services on the corporate market. This is especially a threat to Proximus, which has a strong position with companies.

Cegeka and Citymesh claim that together they can glue the networks and the necessary IT applications on top of those networks together without any problems. Citymesh, which has been deploying wireless networks since its inception in 2008, will become the anchor for connectivity. Gridmax, a Walloon player that previously also acquired 5G spectrum and was also taken over by Cegeka in May, will be transferred to Citymesh. Cegeka takes the lead in IT solutions.

Part of the shares of Cegeka will remain in the hands of the Limburg climate company Nuhma and the management of the telecom company. Michel Akkermans and Jurgen Ingels, shareholders of Citymesh from the very beginning, are leaving the company. The current management under the leadership of Mitch De Geest will continue to take on the daily operational management. Both parties do not disclose financial details.