Altice invests €10 million in fibre optics

 In Companies, News

Telecoms giant Altice has announced that it will begin a new round of investments in the centre and north regions of Portugal.

The €10 million package will “reinforce the expansion of the latest generation of fibre optics” in the regions in what the company calls a “private, autonomous and completely voluntary investment” which will offer Portugal “greater balance in accessing opportunities.”
In a statement Altice says: “A dozen municipalities will benefit from the reinforcement of their fibre optic networks and, in some cases, the mobile network, in coverage that in many cases exceeds 90%. Abrantes, Cantanhede, Celorico da Beira, Constância, Covilhã, Figueira da Foz, Guarda, Mangualde, Pombal, Santa Maria da Feira are the targeted municipalities.”
Altice’s fibre optics network currently serves more than 5.1 million homes and businesses, but the operator’s goal is to reach 5.3 million homes. The objective is to make Portugal “one of the first European countries with full fibre optic coverage”.
Alexandre Fonseca, the CEO of Altice Portugal, says the investment round shows the company’s commitment to “invest in Portugal” as a “driver of economic and social development beyond borders and concentrations of population density”.
This, he says, will ensure “proximity, investment, innovation, quality of service and social responsibility” in Portugal.
From Wednesday the CEO began a tour of Portugal in which he announced partnership agreements and investments with 20 municipalities in the districts of Lisbon, Coimbra, Leiria, Faro, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Porto, Viseu and Santarém.
The most symbolic investment inaugurated during the tour is the new Research, Innovation and Technological Development Centre at the Engineering Institute of Coimbra, which came out of a protocol between Altice Labs and the University of Coimbra to conceive innovation projects and development. AlticeLabs@ISEC represents an investment of €120,000.