Iliad gets EUR300m EIB loan for 5G deployment

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has issued a loan worth EUR300 million (USD329 million) to Iliad to strengthen the deployment of its 5G networks in France. This is the seventh loan granted to Iliad since 2009, bringing the total funding awarded to the operator to more than EUR1.7 billion. Thanks to its investments in France, Iliad currently covers more than 94.4% of the population with 5G and has 15 million mobile subscriptions, including nearly eleven million on the Free 4G/5G Plan. The operator has 16,896 5G sites in operation in the 700MHz/3.5GHz band (including 4,843 3.5GHz sites) in mainland France. Thomas Reynaud, Managing Director of Iliad, commented: ‘We are delighted with this new partnership with the EIB which allows us to pursue our ambitious objectives of deployment and densification of our mobile networks in France, in order to provide the best connectivity to our subscribers.’