Free's parent company Iliad has signed a EUR 300 million loan agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB), in support of its FTTH network activities. The operator currently markets its fibre-based broadband packages to a footprint of 10 million French premises, with a target of 20 million by end-2022. Over the last year, it has signed several new partnership agreements with public initiative networks to expand the reach of its offering, most recently with the rural fibre networks operated by Covage. Overall, it employs a workforce of 3,000 dedicated to its fibre operations.
The new loan brings to EUR 850 million the overall amount of financing received by Iliad from the European bank. Marking the tenth anniversary of this collaboration, the company said that it continues to benefit from attractive conditions under the so-called "Juncker Plan" (European Commission's Investment Plan for Europe).
Free's FTTH customer base passed the 1 million mark in January, nearly doubling during 2018. Iliad CEO Thomas Reynaud told the press that Free is currently achieving 50,000 FTTH net additions per month and expects to reach the milestone of 2 million subscriptions in eighteen months.
