The network operator will target underserved areas and about 30 municipalities and cities across the country – the country’s fibre penetration is about 68%
The Finnish fibre and internet service provider Valoo has secured additional funds from NIBC Bank, SEB, the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), LocalTapiola, ING, KfW IPEX-Bank and the BRIDGE platform and Islandsbanki hf.
The funds are to accelerate the rollout of Valoo’s network across Finland and brings Valoo’s total funding so far to almost €550 million. According to Traficom, at the end of September 2024, 68% of Finnish households had access to fibre broadband and 75% of households had access to a connection with a minimum download speed of 1 Gbps.
A funding round in 2024 combined with the current amount will enable Valoo to expand its footprint to more than 30 municipalities and cities across Finland. As well as passing “tens of thousands of households” with fibre, the work will create almost 1,000 jobs within the company and the wider market, the press statement claims.
Vote of confidence
Valoo’s CEO Vesa Kemppainen, says, “We are delighted that this latest funding round has been completed so quickly, allowing us to focus on our aim of bringing faster home fibre connections to more residential areas in the coming years. Coverage of state-of-the-art broadband remains a challenge in many underserved towns in Finland, holding back local economies – we aim to fix that.”
“Construction will resume across Finland as soon as the weather conditions allow. New orders are coming in continuously, so there is plenty of work to be done,” he Kemppainen adds. “Alongside construction, our operations as an internet operator are also growing. Our highly skilled teams are doing incredibly good work in all areas, bringing cost effective fiber-optic to households across the country.”
Valoo is owned by the global financial investor CVC DIF, the strategic infrastructure arm of the global private markets manager CVC, and TESI (Finnish Industry Investment).
