French telco Iliad has closed the deal to sell part of its fibre business to InfraVia, a French private equity firm specialising in infrastructure.
Iliad values the business at €600 million and under the agreement, which was first announced in September, InfraVia will take a 51% stake in Investissements dans la Fibre des Territoires (IFT).
IFT was set up by Iliad for the purposes of the partnership and is focused on acquiring and operating the group’s co-financed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) assets in less densely populated areas of France.
Strategic move
IFT will provide access and information services to Free, Iliad’s mobile brand, but will also be able to provide the same services to other operators.
A statement from Iliad said, “This partnership with InfraVia is firmly in line with both the French national superfast broadband plan and Iliad’s ‘2024 Odyssey’ strategic plan.”
Iliad is targeting more than 4.5 million fibre subscribers by 2024, up from about 1.5 million in September last year.