LONDON, United Kingdom (23 April 2020) – Arcus Infrastructure Partners (“Arcus”) announces that Swiss4net has signed an agreement with the Municipality of Ascona in the Ticino Canton of Switzerland for the construction of a new Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) network using the town’s existing utility duct infrastructure.
Ascona4net, a wholly owned subsidiary of Swiss4net, will design, build and finance the FTTH network, as well as ensuring its operation and maintenance over the long term. Ascona4net will look to connect all households and businesses (c. 7,200 premises) in the Municipality of Ascona during the network build and will provide all communication service providers in Switzerland with open access to the network, allowing them to offer substantially faster and more reliable internet, telephony, TV and radio services. The project build is scheduled to launch in the coming months, subject to the evolution of COVID-19 related restrictions currently in place in Ticino.
The launch of this project is an important milestone for Swiss4net as it marks the first private investment in a new FTTH network in Switzerland in recent years and validates the growth strategy embedded in the acquisition business plan and subsequently agreed with management. With only around 35% of Swiss premises having access to FTTH, Swiss4net continues to work with other communities across Switzerland to bring full fibre to a larger share of the population and businesses.
“The opportunity to deploy the best internet access technology in the Municipality of Ascona and to welcome our existing, but also new, communication services providers on to the network is great news both for Ascona and for Swiss4net. This offers a unique proposition for the communities who don’t have fibre access yet to eliminate the digital divide and we look forward to announcing more projects in due course,” said Romain Roirand, Arcus Senior Investment Director and Asset Manager for Swiss4net.
Media Contacts:
| Debbie Johnston
T: +44 141 548 5191 | +44 7532 183811 |
Callum Spreng
T: +44141 548 5191 | +44 7803 970103 |
—-
About Arcus
Arcus Infrastructure Partners is an independent fund manager focused solely on long-term investments in European infrastructure. Arcus invests on behalf of institutional investors through discretionary funds and special co-investment vehicles and, through its subsidiaries, currently manages investments with an aggregate enterprise value in excess of EUR 15bn (as of 31 December 2019). The Arcus investment track record includes: Forth Ports, TDF, Alpha Trains, and several other leading European infrastructure businesses. Arcus targets mid-market, value-add infrastructure investments, with a particular focus on businesses in the transportation, energy and telecommunications sectors.
For further information: www.arcusip.com
Linkedin/arcusinfrastructurepartners
—-
About Swiss4net
Swiss4net is a fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) business that develops, builds and operates FTTH networks in rural and medium dense areas of Switzerland. The company currently operates two regional networks with c. 25,000 households connected, and is very well positioned on a significant pipeline of further networks that it is planning to roll out over the coming years.
For further information: http://www.swiss4net.ch/
