Revenues and margins growing in the first half of the year for Open Fiber, a company that sells fiber optics only wholesale and owns the most extensive FTTH (fiber to the home) network in Italy. Revenues, according to what Il Sole 24 Ore is able to anticipate, stand at 448.5 million, up 24% compared to the result of the same period in 2025, EBITDA amounted to 259.6 million, with an increase of 55% linked, according to the company, to revenue growth and cost containment. The EBITDA margin is 58 percent. At the end of June, the company led by Giuseppe Gola counts 17.4 million real estate units reached with fiber. The customer base grows to about 4.1 million users, 272 thousand more than on December 31, 2025, with an increase of 7 percent. In the white areas, those considered market failure zones, there are 800 thousand customers. Management expects to record a total increase of about 600 thousand customers by the end of the year and believes there is room to accelerate the growth rate subsequently.
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However, the bottom line remains in the red, affected by investments made, amounting to 159.4 million euros. Open Fiber, which has structured its growth through a large project financing, currently has a negative net financial position of 7.3 billion euros. It aims to achieve positive cash flow by 2028.
During the first half of the year, it invested about 800 million euros in the development of the fiber optic network, continuing the completion of public plans: Italy at 1 gigabit, as restructured in 2025 with the removal of civic numbers and rescheduling of objectives, was completed at the end of May, one month ahead of the scheduled deadline; the BUL (Ultra Broadband) plan dedicated to market failure areas is 99% complete: 50 municipalities are missing, including, for example, Positano and Campione d’Italia. These are municipalities where there is a permitting issue, explains the company, and discussions are ongoing with Infratel to decide what to do.
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The company, while remaining focused on the wholesale fiber business and its commercialization in the reached areas, is also advancing in business diversification by aiming to create a network of hedge data centers. It has built 5, aiming to reach 11 by the end of the year with the goal of exploiting space, connectivity, and energy present in its own network.
No news, however, as far as is known, on the hypothesis of a combination with rival FiberCop, a company whose main shareholder is the US fund KKR and where the former fixed network of Tim has merged. The project to merge the two networks, linked to a substantial earn-out for Tim (up to 2.5 billion), is currently frozen. The market is meanwhile waiting for the management change at FiberCop, currently led by Massimo Sarmi, who also holds the position of chairman. In recent days, rumors about possible candidates for CEO have intensified.
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