The European Investment Bank (EIB) granted, on 25 August, €150 million to the Iliad Group, a major firm active in the area of fixed telecommunications in France, for the deployment of high-speed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections throughout the territory. The financed plan anticipates the connection of four million households to FTTH by the end of 2012. This loan will also allow the group to continue extending ADSL coverage in France in the context of local loop unbundling, in order to significantly extend, in 2010-2011, the availability of its triple-play offer via the opening of 600 to 800 new subscriber access nodes.