Belgian cable operator VOO has unveiled plans to connect almost 27,000 homes in underserved rural communities to fibre with the aid of a subsidy from the Wallonia region, L’Echo reports. Fibre access will be extended to all villages in so-called ‘white zones’ in the Andenne and Ohey municipalities in Namur province by the end of October, while other sparsely populated locations will be connected in the coming months, the company revealed at a presentation on Tuesday.
According to France Vandermeulen, VOO’s Director of Regulatory and Public Affairs, the company is currently working on 17 different projects covering 27,000 households in more than a hundred localities, upgrading existing coaxial cable infrastructure with DOCSIS 3.1 technology capable of supporting download speeds of up to 1Gbps. The total investment of approximately EUR18 million (USD19.8 million) will be partly financed by an EUR8.7 million subsidy awarded within the framework of Digital Wallonia’s ‘Last Mile’ strategy, initiated in September 2022 to extend very high speed fixed broadband connectivity to white zones, and the Wallonia Region’s Recovery Plan.
The latest expansion is part of a EUR300 million plan unveiled by VOO in March last year to extend gigabit connectivity to the entire Brussels region and half of households in Wallonia by the end of 2023 and throughout its footprint by 2027/28.
Source: https://www.commsupdate.com/articles/2023/04/14/voo-expands-network-coverage-in-rural-areas/