The agreement was completed earlier today by Gelsomina Vigliotti, vice president of EIB and Pietro Labriola, CEO of TIM together with Bernardo Attolico, chief business officer at SACE, the Italian insurance and finance company, controlled by the Ministry for the Economy and Finance.
The EIB financing features a 60% SACE guarantee and will enable TIM to expand 5G coverage across Italy by the end of 2025 using 700MHz bands.
The project also supports 2030 Digital Decade, a EU programme that outlines the digital ambitions for the region over next ten years. It includes developing secure and sustainable digital infrastructure, the digital transformation of businesses, and the digitalisation of public services.
At the same time, the financing will enable the TIM Group to have access to a debt instrument on more favourable terms than those offered on the bond banking market.
The news builds on the longstanding relationship between the parties, with EIB having provided over €1 billion in financing for TIM projects between 2019 and 2023. The EIB’s main areas of activity, are developing and supporting the telecoms network infrastructure, bridging the digital divide, meeting the targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe, and helping the EU’s most disadvantaged regions.
In 2022, SACE joined a pool of financial institutions under the ‘Garanzia Italia’ framework to guarantee a €2 billion loan granted to TIM to support investment in Italy planned under the group’s business plan.
Last month, TIM acquired TS-Way, an Italian company that specialise in prevention and analysis services for cyber threat intelligence.
The undisclosed transaction was completed through Telsy, a TIM Group company focused on cybersecurity, which operates under the name of TIM Enterprise.
