PR: Additional 130 million euros for the RUNE network construction in the rural areas
Sežana, Matulji (date) – RUNE project, within which broadband optical infrastructure is being built in the rural areas of Slovenija and in parts of Croatia, has received support from four European banks in the form of additional funding in the amount of 130 million euros.
Banks Kommunalkredit Austria AG, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord LB), EBRD in Erste Group Bank AG have in the first days of March, concluded months long talks by signing a contract, with which they committed to invest additional funds in amount of 130 million euros in the project RUNE. As part of the latter, broadband optical infrastructure is already being built in rural areas of Slovenia and parts of Croatia (Primorsko-Goranska and Istrska županija). In Slovenia, the intention is to cover over 200.000 addresses, almost 150.000 in Croatia. To date, a total of 90.000 addresses have been covered in both countries. After only three months, they managed to provide access to the broadband network and all the advantages it brings to more than 1000 users with the operators they work with.
»We are very pleased to have secured additional financing. Our goal remains the same – to build cutting-edge fiber infrastructure that will allow access to the internet in areas that were often overlooked by other providers. RUNE is part of a solution for the mentioned areas. With the support of CEBF and now also commercial banks, we will be able to continue to grow and expand the project,« said M.A. Stojan Nikolić, CEO of RUNE Enia and RUNE Crow, which leads the RUNE project for Slovenia and Croatia.
Izzet Guney, Managing Director at Cube Infrastructure Managers, said: »This operation is a real success, and will allow RUNE to achieve its ambition. The CEBF will support the company in driving the deployment of high-quality fibre networks, allowing more connectivity both for citizens and for businesses across Europe.«
RUNE network construction in Slovenia is currently taking place in several areas. Where the network between settlements (s.c. primary network) is already built, the network toward users (s.c. secondary network) and user connectors are being built and users are being connected to the network. In the following weeks and months, the project will expand to other areas, the extend of work will increase.
| About RUNE project RUNE project is the first, and at the moment also the only cross border project at the EU level, with which several member states are connected with the ultrafast broadband optical infrastructure, that was financed by the Connecting Europe Broadband Fund (CEBF). The latter is the majority owner of the RUNE Group S.A., which owns RUNE Enia and RUNE Crow. In early December 2019, the RUNE project received the EU Broadband Awards from the European Commission as the best project in the category. More information about the RUNE project: www.ruralnetwork.eu |
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Tina Ambrožič
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