News
Funding enables Italian utility to push on with nationwide wholesale FTTP rollout.
Open Fiber’s plan to roll out a nationwide, wholesale fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network across Italy received a boost late last week, when it confirmed a €510 million bridge loan with a group of banks.
The 15-month loan, provided by BNP Paribas, Société Générale, and UniCredit, is part of a €3.5 billion programme to finance the company’s 2017-2026 industrial plan. Open Fiber – owned by electricity supplier Enel and state-owned lender Casa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) – aims to deploy ultrafast broadband networks in 271 cities, and 6,753 underserved, so-called ‘white’ areas of the country.
"The result we announce today is a confirmation of the solidity and sustainability of our business plan," said Tommaso Pompei, CEO of Open Fiber, in a statement on Friday.
Open Fiber has won the first two of three government tenders to roll out fibre networks in white areas.
Run by Infratel Italia, the first tender was for six regions, with contracts worth a combined €1.4 billion. Last month, Open Fiber won the second tender to deploy infrastructure in a further six areas.
Meanwhile, Open Fiber chairman Franco Bassanini told local outlet La Stampa that his company would be interested in TIM’s network assets, should the Italian incumbent be forced to sell them off.
"Open Fiber, or its shareholders, are well placed to acquire the Telecom [Italia] network, leveraging the synergies between the two networks and accelerating the migration of everyone from copper to fibre," he said, in the report (in Italian).
Ultrafast broadband deployment is a core subject of Total Telecom Connected Europe, taking place in Lisbon on 11-12 October. Click here to find out more.
