FiberCop, WirLab partner to speed up fibre roll-out

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

On the basis of this agreement, Wirlab will use the fibre optic secondary access network up to FiberCop's homes to develop the Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) access market in nine municipalities in the Campania region: Ischia, Procida, Casamicciola, Forio, Pompei, Scafati, Sant’Antonio Abate, Santa Maria La Carità and Lioni.

Wirlabs’s adhesion 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 digitise 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.