15h | Melanie Mingas
Investors KKR and DTCP have unveiled an independent wholesale fibre venture, which aims to deploy FTTH to "a minimum one million homes by 2025".
Known as Open Dutch Fiber, it will deliver broadband across urban and higher population density areas in the Netherlands. Operations will begin this quarter, with a fully-funded commitment for an envisaged capital expenditure of approximately €700 million and construction agreements already in place.
T-Mobile Netherlands has been confirmed as the anchor tenant. T-Mobile, which has signed up to a 20-year agreement, currently has a mobile base of 6.8 million customers and a fixed base of 682,000.
Open Dutch Fiber co-founder, Jordi Nieuwenhuis, said: "High-quality and reliable fibre connectivity is essential for the Netherlands and this has only been accelerated with the structural changes to working patterns of companies and citizens brought about by the Covid-19 crisis. We are building a digital infrastructure platform with open access to all operators, to ensure an efficient and rapid deployment of capital resources, while avoiding uneconomical overbuild.