France set for €1bn fibre roll-out

Spanish telecommunications company Cellnex and French firm Bouygues Telecom will jointly roll out €1 billion worth of fibre optic network in France over the next seven years.

The two multinationals will form a new company to connect rooftops, towers, telecoms sites and computing centres, accelerating the development of the country’s 5G ecosystem.

Cellnex and Bouygues say the scope of the network roll-out, between now and 2027, will be up to 31,500km, which includes the development of up to 90 new “metropolitan offices”.

The companies add that, on completion, the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) generated by the new yet-to-be-named company will stand at approximately €80 million.

Cellnex CEO Tobias Martinez said, “The agreement to roll out a genuine fibre ring in France, interconnecting various key elements for the fixed and mobile ecosystem, ranging from the towers connected to the fibre, the data processing centres distributed in the network, to small cells, represents our commitment to a holistic cooperation model with our key customers to facilitate planning and efficient operation of the telecoms infrastructures networks.”

Cellnex will hold a 51% share in the new company, with Bouygues taking 49%.

As a consequence of the deal, Cellnex reports that its backlog of future sales contracted will grow by €4billion to total €44billion.