Digi Communications’ Portugal subsidiary agreed to acquire Nowo Communications for €150 million, a move which comes after a deal with Vodafone was blocked by authorities.

In a brief statement, Romania-based Digi explained it signed the agreement with MasOrange, which owns the Nowo brand, adding completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

If the deal goes through, it will see Nowo change hands from holding company Cabonitel to Digi Portugal, which is readying the launch of 5G services in the country after it won licences in 2021.

Nowo is the fourth-largest fixed and mobile operator in Portugal. Digi stated the brand has 270,000 mobile telephony subscribers and 130,000 fixed subscribers. It owns licenses in 1800MHz, 2600 MHz and 3600MHz frequency bands.

Digi’s deal to acquire Nowo comes nearly a month after the Portuguese competition authority blocked Vodafone Portugal’s proposal to purchase the operator, due to concerns about a negative impact on consumers and market competition.