Today in Rome the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a finance contract for EUR 600 million over eight years with Telecom Italia for direct investment to overcome the "broadband digital divide" by extending the broadband and internet infrastructure network to areas of the country that are poorly served at present. The signing ceremony was attended by EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco, who is responsible for the Bank's operations in Italy, Malta and the Western Balkans, and by Franco Bernabè, Telecom Italia's Chief Executive Officer.
In accordance with the EIB's financing policies, the loan comes under one of the priorities of the Lisbon Agenda, which assigns a key role to information and communications technology (ICT) for the future development and internal integration of the European Union. In 2007 the EIB signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Commission on providing support for electronic communications, with the aim of reducing the broadband digital divide.
For Telecom Italia, the EIB loan will provide a significant contribution towards financing the sector's three-year development programme. The project will cover the whole of the country and the EIB funding will complement that already provided by a number of regional public bodies, which are playing an increasingly active role in helping to finance such initiatives.
"This operation strengthens the long-standing relations between the EIB and Telecom Italia, which over the past two years has received EUR 1.4 billion from the Bank", commented Mr Scannapieco, "and this will make it possible to cooperate with the telecoms group in a key sector such as the IT network, which is today becoming crucial for the competitiveness of the country's economic system".
"Today's agreement marks a new and important chapter in relations between Telecom Italia and the EIB, an institution that has always prized the quality of projects", Franco Bernabè observed. "The trust that the EIB has once again shown", he added, "is particularly significant as it confirms its appreciation of the soundness and stability of Telecom Italia's business and its endorsement of our industrial programme".
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The EIB
The European Investment Bank supports the political and strategic objectives of the European Union by granting long-term loans for economically sound investment projects. The EIB's shareholders are the 27 EU Member States. Italy is one of the four leading shareholders, along with the United Kingdom, Germany and France, each holding a 16.2% stake in the Bank. The EIB's financing priorities within the EU are support for economic and social cohesion and convergence; research and innovation; the development of trans-European networks; support for small and medium-sized enterprises; environmental protection and the urban environment; and sustainable, competitive and secure energy supplies.
Telecom Italia Group
With 35.3 million mobile subscribers in Italy and 33.2 million in Brazil, some 21 million connections to the fixed-telephony network, 7.9 million broadband subscribers in Italy and 2.5 million in Germany and the Netherlands, Telecom Italia is the leading player on the domestic market and has an international presence on markets with good growth prospects, such as Latin America, and in rapidly developing technologies such as broadband.