Today Unidata, operator of Telecommunications, Cloud and IoT services, listed on the Euronext Growth Milan market of Borsa Italiana, and the Infrastructure Fund for Growth ESG (IPC Fund) of Azimut Libera Impresa SGR, communicated the signing of binding agreements for the construction, through a special purpose company (SPV) called Unitirreno Submarine Network, of a new system of submarine optical fibers in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
In detail, the new connection will be approximately 900 kilometers long and will connect Mazara del Vallo to Genoa with a junction point near Rome-Fiumicino.
The construction of the new network will be entrusted to Alcatel Submarine Networks and Elettra Tlc and will be the first Open Cable system with 24 pairs of optical fibers in the Mediterranean region with cutting-edge submarine technologies aimed at meeting the ever-increasing broadband needs both nationally and internationally.
A speed of 20 Tbps (terabytes per second) per pair of fibers is foreseen, which translates into a total system capacity of 480 Tbps on the main section and 320 Tbps on the 16-pair branch to Fiumicino.
The new network will also include stubbed branch units to facilitate future landings in Sardinia and/or Palermo.
The market for submarine optical fibers is booming with a global investment forecast of 2.5 billion dollars in the period 2022-2024. Investments are needed to support the growing volumes of data and their transmission and connection speeds (5G development, iCloud, cybersecurity, audio/visual content, metaverse, augmented reality, telemedicine, smart cities, etc.).
Unitirreno will be 96% owned by a HoldCo – in turn owned 66.67% by the IPC Fund and 33.33% by Unidata, with the possibility for the latter to hold a majority stake once that the construction phase will be completed.
Unitirreno will make a total investment estimated at approximately €80 million, financed by equity for €36 million (in particular Unidata will invest between €12 million and €18 million), and for the remaining approximately €44 million, by the banking system and from self-financing generated by the operation.