Światłowód Inwestycje with a credit for infrastructure development

Ten post dostępny jest także w języku: polski

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a PLN 600 million loan to the telecommunications company Światłowód Inwestycje, co-owned by Orange Polska and APG. The funds will be used to eliminate the so-called “white spots” – areas without internet access with high bandwidth.

PLN 600 million credit

Światłowód Inwestycje is a new company established by Orange Poland and APG to develop fiber optic infrastructure. The investments are mainly implemented in areas that are difficult to access or financially unviable for individual operators. Ultimately, the project envisages that by the end of 2025 the network will have reached 2.4 million households, and the investment outlays are expected to exceed PLN 3 billion.

The project carried out by Światłowód Inwestycje has received the approval of the European Investment Bank, the European Union’s financial institution for long-term loans. The loan of PLN 600 million will support the construction of the FTTH network with a minimum capacity of 100 Mbit/s.

Poland is the least digitally advanced

The European Investment Bank admitted that it monitors the most important indicators of digital advancement in individual EU countries on an ongoing basis, and Poland does not look too good in them. Our country is in the last places in Europe in terms of the degree of digitization. However, the EIB underlines that the situation has changed significantly over the past few years.

“The provision of Internet access in Poland has improved significantly over the past few years. This is reflected in the above-average availability of very fast Internet, as well as access to mobile broadband. At the same time, the overall number of fixed broadband users is lower than the EU average, and the gap has been widening since 2015. The low availability of fixed internet is particularly evident in areas with lower population density” – we read in the release