©Marco Santarelli/EIB

EUR 350m loan signed for investments in 2019-2020 aimed at 4G and 5G UBB mobile network evolution

Access to latest generation superfast connections for individuals and businesses

30% of the financing will go to southern Italy

Faster, higher-capacity connections to extend the latest generation mobile phone network to virtually all Italian people and businesses – that is the aim of TIM's investment plan for mobile telephony infrastructure supported by the European Investment Bank (EIB) via a 6Y EUR 350m loan signed today in Rome by EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco and TIM CEO Luigi Gubitosi.

The financed project concerns both the implementation of 5G, as announced by TIM last June, and the strengthening of the existing mobile network with 4G/LTE (Long-Term Evolution). These actions will enable the completion of the outdoor 4G superfast mobile connection coverage in 2019-2020; also, they will lead to a substantial increase in the network’s capacity to cope with the huge growth in traffic at 5G speeds of up to 2 Gbps (gigabits per second). At the same time, the investments will enable the dissemination of 5G and 4G/LTE UBB commercial services, including fixed wireless access solutions, to be expanded throughout Italy.

Of TIM's total planned investments, 30% will go to southern Italy.

The loan comes under the EU bank’s priority sectors: supporting telecommunications network infrastructure, bridging the digital divide, meeting the targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe and helping to develop the EU’s most disadvantaged regions.