Spanish telecoms infrastructure company Cellnex has secured a €375 million ($419m) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to drive the development of 5G mobile telecommunications infrastructure in Spain, France, Italy, and Portugal.

According to the EIB, the loan will enable Cellnex to muster a total investment of €770m ($860m) to bolster and extend the coverage and capacity of very high-capacity mobile network infrastructure in these countries.

Cellnex is one of Europe's largest telecoms infrastructure companies. The company operates more than 115,000 sites, excluding planned rollouts through 2030, across 10 European countries, including Spain, France, the UK, Italy, and Poland.

The loan will include new telecoms infrastructure, including towers and urban sites, upgrades to enable this infrastructure to be shared by multiple operators and support the rollout of 5G networks, and distributed antenna systems to significantly increase capacity at sites.

On top of this, the loan will support investment to modernize Spain’s digital terrestrial television network.

“This third operation with the European Investment Bank consolidates our relationship with a leading institution and reaffirms our shared commitment to Europe’s digital transformation and territorial cohesion," said Raimon Trias, CFO, Cellnex.

"The financing will enable us to support our customers in the rollout of shared infrastructure and the expansion of 5G in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, improving connectivity and narrowing the digital divide. Its tenor and competitive terms will help strengthen our financial structure and extend the average maturity of our debt."

Pilar Solano, director of the EIB’s EU corporate finance department, added: “With this financing, we are supporting the rollout of essential infrastructure for the development of 5G networks in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, improving connectivity for citizens and businesses and helping to narrow the digital divide between regions."