FiberCop, AfinnaOne partner to drive fibre roll-out in Italy

TIM Group infrastructure operator FiberCop has signed an agreement with AfinnaOne that will allow the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) access market to be developed through AffinnaOne’s involvement in the FiberCop network co-investment project.

Under this agreement, AfinnaOne will use the fibre optic secondary access network to connect FiberCop homes according to the “Access to the optical cabinet” model, based on the purchase, on an IRU basis for 20 years, of dedicated fibre infrastructure equipment (primary and secondary splitters and fibre-optic links).

AfinnaOne’s endorsement of the co-investment offer – which the TIM Group is implementing through FiberCop – follows that of other important operators and confirms the soundness of FiberCop’s investment plan, which will ensure FTTH coverage for 75% of the country’s grey and black areas by 2025.

The agreement reached confirms the effectiveness of the co-investment model, which allows all interested operators to participate in the deployment of optical fibre in Italy in an infrastructure competition framework. Moreover, it speeds up the process of overcoming the digital divide in the country and allows households and businesses to choose ultrabroadband connections with speeds of over 1 Gigabit per second.

FiberCop is the infrastructure company controlled by TIM (58%) together with KKR Infrastructure (37.5%) and Fastweb (4.5%) which aims to digitize the country by deploying Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) optical fibre connections.

FiberCop operates on the basis of a co-investment model and is the first case in Europe to see the new European Electronic Communications Code applied at national scale.

The company provides operators with fibre optic passive access services, operating with maximum efficiency and protecting people and the environment.

FiberCop has a network asset that already offers over 94% of the population UBB connections thanks to FTTC and FTTH connections and will continue to develop FTTH coverage with a connection speed of over 1 Gigabit. The aim is to achieve 75% coverage of households in the country’s grey and black areas by 2025.

FiberCop aims to make a critical contribution to reducing the digital divide in Italy, speeding up the process of customers switching from copper to fibre.