The CEO of The Euskaltel Group, Francisco Arteche, CEO of The Euskaltel Group, announced November 13 at the company's Investor Day a 5-year fiber to the home (FTTH) expansion plan for Northern Spain. The expansion will target Navarra, León, Cantabria, and La Rioja with an investment of 20 million euros.
Euskatel will begin work first in Navarra at the start of next year. The company estimates that in January 2018, 78,500 households in Pamplona (the capital of Navarre) and Ansoain will have access to triple play and mobile services by a member of the Euskatel Group. That number should rise to 150,000 homes within the 5 years of the plan, including work in the municipalities of Tudela, Alsasua, Etxarri-Aranatz, Huarte, Estella-Lizarra, Burlada, Egüés Valley, and Zizur Mayor, among others. The company hopes to serve at least 30,000 of those potential customers, which would equate to a penetration rate of 20%.
The plan will leverage an agreement with the Spanish arm of Orange that will enable Euskatel to use Orange's FTTH network infrastructure in the targeted areas outside of its existing footprint. The group also plans to build out additional FTTH infrastructure within its current coverage areas.
Overall, Euskaltel expects the expansion plan to enable it to offer services to 7.6 million customers -- 6 million in Euskadi, Galicia, and Asturias as well as 1.6 million people from Navarra, León, Cantabria, and La Rioja. The total includes more than 500,000 additional potential customers.