Cellnex and Fastweb, cooperation agreement to develop the 5G network

Milan, 13 December 2018  Cellnex, Europe’s leading independent operator of wireless telecommunications services and infrastructures, and Fastweb, one of Italy’s leading telecommunications operators, have signed a cooperation agreement to promote the creation of a next-generation mobile network in Italy.

As a result of the agreement, Cellnex will make its sites available to Fastweb in the areas where Fastweb has begun testing 5G technology.

In particular, access to the infrastructures managed by Cellnex will allow Fastweb to speed up the development of 5G networks in some areas of the cities in which the company is currently testing the new technology, such as Rome, Genoa, Bari and Matera, using dedicated coverage for the implementation of 5G usage cases in the mobility, security and culture areas.

“We are very happy and proud to be able to work with Cellnex” said Andrea Lasagna, Fastweb Technology Manager. “Through this agreement, Fastweb confirms its commitment to play a leading role in developing 5G infrastructure and services in Italy and today the company has added another key element to its strategy to position itself as the first Italian fixed-mobile telephony operator that is fully convergent for 2020”.

“The agreement with Fastweb represents one more step in our strategy to create innovative multi-operator infrastructures” said Alfonso Álvarez, Deputy General Manager of Cellnex Italia. “We are proud that an operator such as Fastweb has chosen our infrastructure for testing 5G, a technology that will offer better connectivity, at high speed, capable of handling an unprecedented amount of data”.

About Cellnex Telecom

Cellnex Telecom is Europe’s leading operator of wireless telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructures with a total portfolio of 28,000 sites including forecast roll-outs up to 2022. Cellnex operates in Spain, Italy, Netherlands, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Cellnex’s business is structured in four major areas: telecommunication infrastructures services; audiovisual broadcasting networks; security and emergency service networks and solutions for smart urban infrastructure and services management (smart cities and the “Internet of Things” (IoT)).

The company is listed on the continuous market of the Spanish stock exchange and is part of the selective IBEX 35 and EuroStoxx 600 indices. It is also part of the FTSE4GOOD and CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) and “Standard Ethics” sustainability indexes.

About Fastweb

With 2.5 million customers, Fastweb is one of Italy’s principal telecommunications operators. The company offers a wide range of fixed and mobile voice and data services to individuals and companies.

Since its creation in 1999, the company has focused on innovation and network infrastructure to ensure the highest quality in the provision of broadband services.

Fastweb has developed a 46,600-km national fibre optic network infrastructure with more than 4 million km of fibre. Thanks to the expansion and continuous growth of the broadband network, Fastweb now reaches 21 million homes, 8 million of which use its proprietary network, with connection speeds of up to 1 Gigabit. Fastweb will reach 22 million homes and businesses by the end of 2018. The company also offers its customers a state-of-the-art mobile service based on 4G and 4G Plus technology.

The mobile service will be reinforced by 2020, starting with the big cities, by building a next-generation 5G infrastructure with small cell technology. Fastweb provides telecommunications services to all types of companies, start-ups, small and medium-sized enterprises, large firms and the public sector, to which it offers connectivity and advanced ICT services, such as housing, cloud computing, security and integrated communications. The company has been part of the Swisscom Group since September 2007.