Colombia's OnNet Fibra obtains loan to expand fiber

Neutral fiber optic company OnNet Fibra has obtained a loan for 265 billion Colombian pesos (US$63 million) to continue expanding its nationwide fiber optic network.

The loan, granted by Colombian financial development institution FDN, is the first provided by the institution in the telecommunications sector.

FDN is part of the Bicentenario group, a public-private holding company affiliated to the finance ministry. It includes 13 entities that offer financial and insurance services.

“We're venturing into financing the telecommunications sector. The plan is to continue diversifying the financing and structuring of infrastructure projects in different sectors and to contribute to improving the quality of life of Colombians,” said FDN president Francisco Lozano in a message posted on social network X.

OnNet Fibra has 4.2mn homes passed in 85 cities. The goal is to reach 5.9mn homes by 2030, FDN said.

The neutral network is used by Telefónica Colombia (which is also an investor in the company, along with KKR), DirecTV Colombia and Liwa.

In 2022 and 2023, OnNet Fibra invested 722bn pesos, of which 376bn were disbursed in 2023. The company expects to exceed investments of 1 trillion pesos after three years of operations.

Most of the investments made in 2023 were focused on the deployment of new networks (88%). The company is also investing in expanding the existing network, systems to support neutral services and strengthening monitoring high-availability ring networks.

By the end of 2024, the company plans to reach 4.3mn homes passed in nearly 90 cities.

As of December 31, 2023, the company reported that it had more than 25,000km of fiber optics throughout the country.

Last year, OnNet Fibra reported revenues of 288bn pesos and operating expenses of 119bn pesos.

Its fiber-to-the-home business grew 78% compared with 2022, resulting in revenues of 258bn pesos for the year.