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The project concerns the rollout of very high capacity networks in the district of Lörrach in Germany. The long-term target is to connect every household with an optical fibre cable for the provision of Gigabit broadband services by 2030. The investments will enable an additional 30 000 homes connected with access to Gigabit fixed line broadband services, mainly in the so called "grey areas", suburban and urban areas with limited alternative broadband services. The project will bring a significant uplift of the broadband service offering as the customers are today often served by less developed broadband services below 30 Mbps.
The long-term target is to connect every household with an optical fibre broadband access line by 2030. The current rollout is focused on areas with limited ultra-high speed broadband coverage. The investments will enable thousands of homes with access to gigabit fixed line broadband services. The implementation will take place from 2026 to 2030. The project will bring a significant uplift of the broadband service offering up to gigabit services.
The Project concerns the roll-out of Very High Capacity Networks in Germany focusing on suburban areas in the district of Lörrach . It will address the market failure to invest in lower-density areas due to the high commercial risks and costs involved. The project will enable more users to benefit from the access to information, digital services and better communication. The project is fully in line with the EU 2030 Digital Decade targets, stating that all households should have access to Gigabit connectivity by 2030. The Promoter is experienced in works of this nature and has a sound project management system in place. The Project is expected to deliver very good economic rate of return and broader social benefit.
This will be the Borrower's second EIB loan. EIB's offer is appreciated for a combination of financial and non-financial features. The loan will increase the affordability of the Borrower's substantial investment programme into broadband infrastructure by providing a stable funding base alongside public subsidies and commercial bank loans. The loan will lengthen the maturity profile of the borrower's financial debt, bringing it more in line with the economic life of the underlying project. Furthermore, flexibility thanks to the long availability period and grace period, as well as flexible interest rate arrangements, especially long-term fixed interest rates, compare favourably with market alternatives.
The Promoter is an experienced broadband network constructor. Therefore, no technical advice was sought. The monitoring of the Project will take place via annual Project Progress Reports.
Investments in fixed telecommunications projects (mainly civil works for fibre rollout) do not fall under the Annexes of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive 2014/52/EU amending Directive 2011/92/EC. The related works typically have limited residual environmental effects as they are mainly carried out alongside existing transport infrastructure such as roads.
The Bank will require the promoter to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the project will be tendered in accordance with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation.