The European Investment Bank (EIB) and telecoms infrastructure firm Cellnex have agreed a €375 million loan to support the roll-out of 5G mobile infrastructure across Spain, France, Italy and Portugal.
Cellnex is expected to use the financing to mobilise total investment of €770 million to expand and upgrade very high-capacity mobile network infrastructure in the four countries, the EIB announced in a release on Tuesday.
The investment will focus on improving coverage and capacity in high-traffic areas and supporting connectivity in both urban and rural locations.
Plans include building new telecoms infrastructure such as mobile towers and urban sites, upgrading sites so they can be shared by more than one mobile network operator, and deploying 5G networks.
The project also includes distributed antenna systems — networks of smaller antennas used to boost mobile signal capacity in busy areas — as well as investment to modernise Spain’s digital terrestrial television network.
Expansion in cohesion regions
About half of the new masts are expected to be installed in “cohesion regions” — areas eligible for EU support aimed at reducing regional disparities, the bank said.
The project is based on an open-access model used by passive infrastructure providers like Cellnex, where multiple operators share the same sites rather than building separate masts.
The agreement is the third joint operation between the EIB and Cellnex to finance mobile telecoms infrastructure in Europe.
“Advanced digital connectivity is key to strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy,” said Pilar Solano, Head of the EIB’s Corporate Finance Department for the EU.
Cellnex chief financial officer Raimon Trias pointed out that the financing would support customers rolling out shared infrastructure and expanding 5G in the four countries, while also extending the average maturity of the company’s debt.
