United Group will start the construction of the largest optical network in Southeast Europe “United Fiber”, which stretches through four markets in the EU – Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, in that 450 million euros will be invested, Telemacha Hrvatska telecom, which is owned by that group, reported on Tuesday.
“United Fiber” has 60 thousand kilometers of core and metro network, and in the mentioned four markets it reaches 3.6 million households and connects Europe with the Middle East and Asia, thus responding to high demand for transit through the Group’s key markets. Total investments in “United Fiber” amount to 450 million euros for the period 2024-2028, and in this, as they say, after the successful establishment of United Fiber in Greece in 2021, after which they continued to consolidate the fixed line portfolio infrastructure in the EU, namely in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.
“At United Group, we know how to build and implement the most modern fixed infrastructure. In Serbia, we started completely from scratch in 2000, and two decades later we became the largest optical network in Southeastern Europe. Only in four countries of the European Union – Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, United Group owns 60,000 kilometers of core and metro network”, said United Group Vice President for Technology Žjko Batistić.
Currently, he adds, they are implementing the delivery plan of 475,000 new optical connectors for households in 2024, and will continue at a similar pace in the coming years, with the vision of becoming the preferred brand of choice for users, business clients and a partner for the public sector, in order to contribute to the successful digitalization of society.
“Unification of our investments in ‘United Fiber’ will enable us to further expand our activities, create strong synergy and raise our investment capacities to a higher level. We would also like to thank the dedicated professional teams for sales, support and technical assistance. “With more operations, we will be even more available to our users,” said Batisti.
The Group states that “United Fiber” Greece was key to the implementation of the Group’s infrastructure development strategy and that in Greece they achieved a penetration of 20 percent on their own optical infrastructure (compared to the national average of 8 percent), providing users with an ultra-fast connection. In Bulgaria, the Group has the largest optical network in the country, which reaches 50 percent of all households with a plan to expand to 67 percent by 2028.
In Croatia, about 80,000 households are covered annually, with the plan to cover 40 percent of all households by 2028, and in Slovenia, the Group owns the second largest network, with gigabit speeds, which covers about 50 percent of households.