Open Fiber extends partnership with Vodafone to bring FTTH to 271 Italian cities


Open Fiber is extending its collaboration with Vodafone for the development in Italy


of ultra-wideband connectivity services for fibre to the home (FTTH). The agreement, which is already active in


around two million households and businesses across 13 cities, has been expanded to an additional 258 cities as part of the next wave of the fast broadband network rollout. This includes Clusters A and B – home to around 60 per cent of the Italian population. The strategic partnership, which will last until


2031, entails the progressive migration on the Open Fiber network of Vodafone customers, with the entire route from exchange to home being fibre optic. This is designed to ensure maximum performance and a speed of up to 1Gb/s to more than 9.5 million properties. The company’s 2018-2027 plan ultimately aims to bring FTTH to some 19 million homes and businesses. At the same time, it was revealed in a report by


Reuters that Open Fiber – which is jointly owned by Enel (ENEI.MI) and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti – has gained funding toward the €6.5 billion fast broadband rollout from enlisted banks. The €3.5 billion project finance deal, which was signed with BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA), Societe Generale SOCG.PA and UniCredit (CRDI.MI), is to last for seven years and is expected to be finalised within the next few months. Elisabetta Ripa, chief executive of Open Fiber,


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Open Fiber’s Elisabetta Ripa says the


agreement extension is a further acceleration towards an entirely fibre optic infrastructure


said: ‘The extension of the agreement with Vodafone to the entire perimeter of the Open Fiber plan in the market areas is a further acceleration towards the adoption of an entirely fibre optic infrastructure, and confirms the validity of our project, created to seize the opportunities offered by the Italian market, characterised by a delay in the development of broadband services.’


Spain invests €525 million in 100 per cent fibre coverage by 2021


Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has announced plans to ensure the country has access to 300Mb/s fibre broadband by 2021, with an investment of €525 million in the next stage of development, designed to place the country ‘at the global head in availability of digital infrastructure.’ Rajoy said in a


presentation of the Plan for the Extension of Broadband, that Spain must take a leap to become a reference to the challenges of the future, stating that digitisation must take centre stage of the political debate and is a governmental priority.


The plan, called 300 x 100,


will cover ‘100 per cent of the Spanish population by 2021’, with a speed of at least 300Mb/s, and fibre optic connections. The €525 million will be allocated between 2018 and 2021. Rajoy said Spain already enjoys one of the best fixed networks in the world, with high-capacity networks covering 76 per cent of the population. But ‘covering the population does not mean covering the territory, and it is precisely the least populated territory that can benefit the most.’ A complementary plan is


to guarantee high-speed internet for those who live


outside the population centres. Mr Rajoy referred to other initiatives, such as the National Smart Territories Plan – which allocates €51 million to promote information and communication technologies in rural areas – and the National Rural Development Program 2014-2020. Thanks to these plans, the collaboration of telecommunication operators, the budgetary effort of the administration and contribution of European funds, said Rajoy, access will be ensured to next- generation networks in Spain’s population centres.


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