The tide of fixed/mobile convergence continues to flow as the UK’s Vodafone joins with telco and media group Altice (Amsterdam-headquartered but French-owned) to build a €7bn ($6.8bn) fiber network in Germany. The 50/50 joint venture, FibreCo, will focus mainly on making fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) available to around 7m German homes currently served by Vodafone’s existing hybrid fiber/coax cable network amassed through acquisitions over the last decade. That will account for 80% of the roll-out focused on housing associations served by the cable network, but the other 20% will extend to homes beyond, although still close to, the operator’s existing footprint. Although a 50/50 venture, Vodafone was the prime mover in the venture given its existing base to build on, with Altice’s…