June 4 (SeeNews) - Southeast Europe-focused telecommunications and media services provider United Group is bundling its fixed infrastructure asset portfolio in Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia under the United Fiber brand, aiming to create the biggest fiber network in this region, it said on Tuesday.
United Fiber's overall investment pipeline is 450 million euro ($489 million) for the 2024-2028 period, the group said in a press release.
A new infrastructure project will deploy a terrestrial cable connecting Athens and Thessaloniki and linking Southeast Europe with key hotspots in Western Europe. The project, that is planned to be completed in 2025, will reinforce the existing interconnections with Turkey and the Middle East, strengthening the existing interconnection with Bulgaria, and facilitate plans to enhance connectivity between Greece and Turkey.
In Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, United Group owns 60,000 km of backbone and metro network. Its broadband network in these markets reaches 3.6 million homes. The group is currently implementing a plan to deliver 475,000 new fibre to the homes (FTTH) in 2024, with the similar pace in the following years.
Dutch-based United Group operates in Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Croatia and Greece.
The group has the largest FTTH network in Bulgaria, reaching 50% of all households, with plans to expand to 67% by 2028. In February, the group finalised the acquisition of Bulgarian satellite TV and broadband services provider Bulsatcom.
In Croatia around 80,000 households are added per year with the plan to reach 40% of all households by 2028.
($ = 0.920 euro)