NEWS
Bluevía begins operations to deploy fibre in Spain
Beginning with an initial footprint of 3.9 million premises , acquired from Telefónica España , Bluevía will expand its network to reach 5 million premises by the end of 2024 , bringing ultra-fast fibre broadband access , a greener technology , to areas that currently do not have this service .
“ We aspire to expand the development outside the big cities ,” said Luis Rivera , CEO of Bluevía . “ To this end , we will support Telefónica ’ s fibre operations , boosting and accelerating new deployments . Bluevía is an open company , with a fibre network available to all ; environmentally sustainable ; inclusive so that no one is left behind in the digital world .”
Bluevía , a network operator that offers wholesale FTTH access and other fibre connectivity services in Spain , participated by Telefónica España , Telefónica Infra and the consortium formed by Crédit Agricole Assurances and Vauban Infrastructure Partners ( through its managed fund Core Infrastructure Fund IV ), has officially started its activity after the completion of the transaction .
As noted in the announcement of the creation of Bluevía in July , the consortium formed by Crédit Agricole Assurances and Vauban Infrastructure Partners , has acquired 45 % of the company for a total amount of € 1,021 million in cash , valuing 100 % of Bluevía at € 2,500 million , which represents an implied multiple of 27.1x over the company ’ s proforma estimated OIBDA for 2022 .
With this investment , Telefónica Infra will have FTTH vehicles in Spain , Germany , UK and Brazil with businesses operating in each of these countries in partnership with top-tier financial institutions .
UK ’ s broadband hit record-breaking levels in 2022
The UK ’ s broadband use increased even further during 2022 , with more data being downloaded than ever before . According to Openreach ’ s annual update , broadband traffic across the UK increased by around 2.5 % during 2022 to 64,364 Petabytes ( PB ) of data .
There are several factors that are believed to have contributed to the increase . These include live online streaming of football matches by Amazon Prime , people turning to the Internet to engage with major events such as the Queen ’ s funeral , the Christmas holiday season and an increase in gaming , particularly the popularity of Call of Duty .
The figures give the most comprehensive picture of UK broadband traffic , as they ’ re based on millions of homes and businesses using well-known providers such as BT , Sky , TalkTalk , Vodafone and Zen .
The amount of data being downloaded has increased in recent years , with 62,700 PB being downloaded in 2021 , 50,000 PB in 2020 and 22,000 PB in 2019 .
On Sunday , 11 December , 2022 , the UK experienced the busiest single day of Internet usage on record , with 228.87 PB of data being transmitted across the network . That day , winter weather engulfed the UK , which may have prompted people to stay indoors and accelerate their Christmas preparations with online shopping and streaming of festive films and music .
The second busiest day was Boxing Day , as millions headed online to enjoy Christmas with friends and family and Amazon Prime screened seven live football games , as the Premier League returned to our screens .
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