iliad SA has secured a €300 million loan from the European Investment Bank, bringing the total amount of EIB financing of France’s leading alternative fiber operator to more than €1.4 billion.
The funding will be used to accelerate the rollout of ultra-fast broadband in France, including in less dense and rural areas and improve the energy efficiency of digital services.
With this agreement, the iliad Group, now Europe’s sixth-largest mobile operator with more than 45 million subscribers, has strengthened its position as France’s leading alternative fiber operator. With more than 3,800 employees working purely on fiber in France, the Group is a committed operator, working every day to support regional development and install optical fiber in homes, including in less densely populated and rural areas through Public Initiative Networks (PINs). Thanks to its investments, the Group now has 7 million fixed-line subscribers in France, including more than 4.5 million Fiber subscribers and more than 30 million connectible sockets.
“We are delighted about this new partnership with the EIB, which will enable us to pursue our ambitious rollout and densification objectives for our fixed networks in France. This financing operation, the sixth loan granted to iliad SA since 2009, confirms the quality of the long-standing relationship between our Groups in France, and also in Poland via our subsidiary Play since the beginning of 2022. Providing the best connectivity for as many people as possible is a major challenge for society and key to ensuring regional competitiveness. Increasing access to fiber is also the best way to aim for more energy-efficient digital services,” said Thomas Reynaud, CEO of iliad Group.
