French telecoms group Iliad has unveiled a partnership that plans to accelerating the rollout of fibre outside of densely populated areas.
Its entered into exclusive talks with the private equity firm InfraVia in a bid to reach 26 million lines through a specially created entity.
Iliad’s Free will transfer its existing co-financing agreements to the entity along with around one million connections.
The project is in line with French national broadband plan known as France Plan Très Haut Débit, which aims to connect all households and businesses to superfast broadband by 2022.
Thomas Reynaud, Iliad’s Chief Executive Officer, explained that “The French market is characterised by high demand for fibre across the whole country. Our partnership with InfraVia is an excellent way of accelerating our rollouts so that Free can offer the best speeds to 26 million households as soon as possible, in line with the objectives of our Odyssey plan.”
Free has the largest FTTH network of all the country’s alternative operators, however it lost 127,000 subscribers in a second quarter that has seen rivals gain market share.
Iliad reported an 8.4% rise in revenue to €2.6 billion.
Source: https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2019/09/03/iliad-announces-french-rural-fibre-plan/