Facts
Country
The Netherlands
City
Eindhoven
Number of Units
29,000 households
Eindhoven Glass Fibre roll-out
Eindhoven becomes the first major city in the Netherlands to fully connect all households with super-fast internet. The city has signed an agreement for 29,000 households with telecommunications provider T-Mobile and infrastructure investor Primevest Capital Partners Investment.
Primevest Capital Partners has signed the agreement with the city of Eindhoven on behalf of the Primevest Communication Infrastructure Fund (PCIF). The Primevest Communication Infrastructure Fund (PCIF) and T-Mobile are aiming to expand super-fast fiber optic networks for at least 100,000 households in the Netherlands this year. Other cities will follow Eindhoven’s example of full next-generation internet coverage. Customers in the districts of Eindhoven Centrum, Strijp and Gestel will be able to sign contracts for T-Mobile service with Internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) from August 2020.
VolkerWessels Telecom will build the fibre optic network in Eindhoven for PCIF and take over the future maintenance. The company, which is experienced in the construction of fiber optic networks, uses an innovative construction method in which the cables are laid up to five times faster than standard market technologies.
Bas van Dongen, Partner at Primevest Capital Partners,says: “The Covid-19 crisis has clearly shown that the winning cities of the future will be the ones with the best internet infrastructure that will allow their digitised economies to stay one step ahead. Eindhoven is already known as a global academic centre for excellent technological research. The city’s agreement with our partner T-Mobile, which will lease and operate the fiber optic network from the Primevest Communication Infrastructure Fund, covers three districts, about a quarter of Eindhoven’s population, who have not previously had access to next-generation broadband. This is a big and necessary step to ensure that Eindhoven retains its pole position.”
The winning cities of the future will be the ones with the best internet infrastructure
PCIF has so far invested around EUR 65 million for the fund’s institutional investors and has a further EUR 50 million of projects under construction. For the further growth of the fund, PCIF is aiming for additional equity commitments (minimum participation 10 million euros) of 150 million euros this year. The fund invests in passive communication infrastructure in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium. The target volume is between 500 and 600 million, with at least 70% invested in fiber optic networks and about 30% in radio masts and data centers.