Liberty Global is the latest operator to hold hands with a private equity firm to create a 50:50 joint venture dedicated to deploying fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) in Europe. Through its Liberty Global Ventures arm, the company has partnered with InfraVia Capital Partners, initially on a project that is “assessing opportunities” for FTTH networks in Germany, before committing to any actual digging. Effectively, the venture marks Liberty Global’s re-entrance into the German market, two years after it sold the Unitymedia cable TV business to Vodafone. Without striking a deal with the devil (in Liberty Global’s view, as a rival), it would likely not have been able to secure the funds or regulatory approval to form this independent FTTH business. Allowing Vodafone to…