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EIB offers €600 m financing for Deutsche Telekom fibre project

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The loan covers part of the total project cost estimated at EUR 1.6 billion for 2021-2022. These investments will enable an additional 1.5 m homes, businesses and schools to get access to fibre broadband access networks. The project will bring customers broadband services up to a Gigabit. Lending conditions include long availability period, drawdown flexibility, and long tenor of the facility.

The project contributes to EU Digital Infrastructure policy objectives by investing in Very High Capacity Networks (VHCN) located in sub-urban and semi-rural areas. According to the EIB, the enhanced network will allow the use of more advanced digital applications and contribute to the resilience of Germany's digital infrastructure.

The proposed loan is expected to enable Deutsche Telekom’s to crowd in complementary financing sources for its operation. Deutsche Telekom’s two key strategic targets are to reach 25% of all German households and businesses by 2025, with the longer-term target to connect all German households with fibre by 2030.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) furthers European Union objectives by providing long-term project funding, guarantees and advice to projects both within and outside the EU. Its shareholders are the Member States of the EU. The main EU goal is for every European household to have access to high-speed internet coverage by 2025 and gigabit connectivity by 2030.

In recent months, the EIB also backed two Polish fibre projects, from Nexera and Światłowód Inwestycje, which target digital transformation in lower-density areas, and a project to accelerate broadband network deployment in Cyprus from Epic Telecom. In Italy, EIB recently provided €230 million in financing for 2021-2023 to support investments strengthening backbone and regional fibre optic networks (including the IP backbone) with Gruppo TIM. Another recent loan for €120 million is helping develop 5G mobile phone infrastructure. Last year, the EIB also invested €34 mn to provide internet for Georgia’s rural areas and  €170 million towards expanding FTTH across Ireland. In December 2020, the EIB invested €100 million in extending Telekom Slovenije’s fibre optic network, increasing internet connection speeds across the country.