Telecom Italia (TIM) is planning an investment of between EUR4 billion and EUR4.5 billion (USD4.7 billion-USD5.3 billion) in its fibre access networks. A report from Bloomberg, which cites people familiar with the matter, says the telco has opened a tender to find partners to carry out network expansions to widen its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage to around ten million Italian households. The tender also includes a maintenance and upgrade contract for around 13 million existing lines. Bids are expected by end-November, with the contracts due to run to 2025. TIM recently agreed the sale of a 37.5% stake in its last-mile networks business FiberCop to US investment fund KKR for EUR1.8 billion.
Earlier this month TIM announced that it had deployed fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) technology in around 2,700 municipalities since March, many of which are in underserved rural areas. The telco says its ultrabroadband services are currently available in more than 4,700 municipalities nationwide and by the end of this year it wants to have FTTC available on 90% of its fixed network.
Source: https://www.commsupdate.com/articles/2020/10/27/tim-pushing-ahead-with-fibre-rollout/