Surety guarantee relates to PNRR funds tied to the “1 Giga Italy” plan
Italy’s fibre infrastructure operator Open Fiber has obtained a line of credit for the issuance of surety guarantees to support the advance of 30% of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) funds – equating to approximately €550 million – connected to the public tender of the “1 Giga Italy” plan.
The move was organised by Allianz Trade as manager and issuing body with the support of the SACE Group and a pool of national and international insurance companies. The “1 Giga Italy” plan is one of seven plans under the government’s ‘Italian Strategy for Ultra Broadband Towards the Gigabit Society’. In May 2021 the European Commission approved Italy’s plan and allocated $7.93bn to provide gigabit connectivity nationwide by 2026.
“1 Giga Italy” was allocated $4.5bn with aims to offer download speeds of up to 1Gbps and upload speeds of up to 200 Mbps to 8.5 million out of 26 million households by 2026. In May 2022, the government awarded a $3.48bn contract to Open Fibre for fibre-optic network deployments in almost 3,900 municipalities across the country.
The insurance guarantees relate to the Puglia, Tuscany, Lazio, Sicily, Emilia Romagna, Campania, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Lombardy lots and have a three-year duration. According to La Stampa, this is one of the largest surety operations carried out to date as part of the advances of the PNRR funds. The pool led by Allianz Trade, and with the support of SACE, which counter-guaranteed approximately 30%, saw the following insurance companies participating: Axa Assicurazioni, Generali Global Corporate & Commercial Italia, HDI Insurance, Helvetia Insurance, QBE Europe SA/NV, Reale Mutua Assicurazioni, S2C Spa, SACE BT, Tokyo Marine Europe SA, Vittoria Assicurazioni, Zurich and others.
“The operation that we have finalised with a pool of primary insurance companies facilitates the process of building a fundamental infrastructure to ensure ultra-fast connectivity and the use of digital services for citizens of areas who do not have it,” said Open Fiber CEO Giuseppe Gola. “Open Fiber is at the forefront in contributing to the digitalisation of the country in large cities as well as in villages and in the most remote areas.”
“It was a one-of-a-kind operation in terms of magnitude and management of the counterparties involved. The insurance market responded positively, giving a signal of support important to Open Fiber in a strategic project for the digitalisation of the country of Italy,” said says Allianz Trade Mediterranean Countries, MEAA head of surety Dario Locatelli.
“We at the SACE Group are proud to have contributed to the success of this operation, among the largest in the PNRR field, strategic for Open Fiber and for the country, in the awareness that digitalisation is a fundamental tool for ensuring social connection and access to growth opportunities,” said SACE director of custom business solutions Randa Morgan.
Ultra broadband
Open Fiber recently carried out an analysis of regulator AGCOM’s Observatory rollout figures and said that about 60% of those who have an FTTH network are surfing on Open Fiber infrastructure – as of 30 September. More than €8bn of investment by the end of 2023, 120,000km of FTTH infrastructure already in place and more than 14.5m homes, businesses and public administration offices connected to FTTH.
Of the approximately 120,000km of infrastructure already in place, 46,000km run through the so-called Black Areas – the most densely populated – and as many as 74,600km through the so-called White Areas, the least densely populated. However, take-up of FTTH in Italy is around 22%, well below the European average (52%).
As of 31 December, Open Fiber reached 74,600km of built infrastructure – 83 % according to the company’s coverage plan. More than 17,300km of infrastructure was built from January 2023 to December 2023 alone. Of the 6,232 municipalities under the Infratel concession, 4,774 have been completed, 77% of the total said the telco.