The European Investment Bank (EIB) confirms support for TIM’s plan to develop 5G, fibre optic network and data centres.
The €350 million that EIB is lending to TIM is in two loans: €230 million for 2021-2023 to support investments planned under TIM’s new Beyond Connectivity plan. This aims to strengthen the backbone and regional fibre optic networks (including the IP backbone) to carry rapidly growing traffic from fixed and mobile access networks, and data centres.
National digitalisation
TIM says this will speed up the digitalisation of Italian networks. The financing also supports investments related to the construction of new data centres in Milan and Turin by Noovle, TIM’s cloud and edge computing subsidiary, and in Greece by Sparkle, the group’s global operator, as well as the modernisation of Italian data centres.
A second, €120 million, loan in 2021 will help develop 5G infrastructure and is in addition to an initial €350 million loan signed in 2019 to provide overall support of €470 million for this project.
Central activity
Taking these two new loans into account, the EIB will have financed TIM projects totalling €700 million between 2019 and 2021.
The loans are part of the EIB’s main areas of activity – developing and supporting telecommunications network infrastructure, bridging the digital divide, meeting the targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe and helping the EU’s most disadvantaged regions.
In 2020, TIM made remarkable progress in building out fibre infrastructure and committed to closing the digital divide in Italy in 2021. It has delivered on its pledge in two regions so far – Apulia (perhaps better known as Puglia) and Fruili Venezia Guilia.