The Marguerite Fund and co-sponsors have closed financing to develop a high speed fibre to the home (FTTH) telecommunications network in Alsace France.

The project concerns the deployment of a very high speed fibre to the home (FTTH) telecommunications network in about 700 communes of the Region of Alsace in France where the available or planned networks cannot offer download bit rates above 30 Mbps. The network is planned to have about 380 000 connections.

The project will be implemented by a concessionaire under a concession contract with the region (Délégation de service public). It is the largest PPP contract in the field of the optical fibre in France. 

The total project investment is estimated at €480 million (US$543.9 million). Construction of the project is due to be completed in 2022, which will be followed by a 30-year operation period.​​

Mott MacDonald has helped the scheme successfully reach financial close by establishing the project risk profile and advising the lenders on potential technical issues in the contract and design, as well as construction schedule and eventual operation. The consultancy will now monitor design and construction, verifying that drawdowns are made accordingly with the project’s progress and continuing to monitor for any unanticipated technical issues that could impact on the project.

Antoine Bonnafous, Mott MacDonald’s project director, said:

“This commission has allowed Mott MacDonald’s PPP team in France to continue to broaden the sectors it works in, which already include buildings, transport, waste and maritime. We have collaborated closely with our digital infrastructure specialists in the UK on this project and will continue to do so as it progressed through design and construction.”