Adamo, a fiber optic operator owned by the French fund Ardian, has broken the internet market in rural areas of Catalonia: with the support of the EU's Next Generation funds, it is investing 19 million euros in creating a network of fiber optic that offers 1,000 MB of speed and already covers 700,000 homes. Of these, 300,000 are in the Barcelona metropolitan area and the rest are dispersed, in around 160 municipalities, in many of which until now there was only Movistar broadband, or even none at all.
According to its CEO, Martin Czermin, the company's effort responds to "the importance that Barcelona and Catalonia have always had for the company: our roots are here".
Adamo is headquartered at 22@ in Barcelona and has a workforce of 320 people, the majority in Catalonia. The firm began operating in Spain in 2007, but gained momentum from 2017, being owned by the Swedish fund EQT, which sold it in 2021 to the French venture capital fund Ardian, for an amount that market sources estimated at around 1,200 million of euros.
Adamo has opted to gain a foothold in Spain as an operator of rural areas, with the support of European funds: it has been awarded aid from the PEBA funds in 17 provinces, for an amount of 98 million euros to which an investment will be added additional 45 million with own funds. The group also previously received aid from the Single Program, so that in total it has mobilized an investment of 300 million, both public and its own, to bring fiber to 950,000 homes located in rural areas of 24 provinces.
In Catalonia, the group has received 13 million in European aid (9.7 million for Tarragona and 3.2 million for Girona), to which it will add an investment of 6 million with its own funds.
Catalonia, explained spokespersons for the group, concentrates a quarter of the homes covered by the Adamo network, in addition to 54,000 customers. A good part of them are in Barcelona itself, where he began wiring the 22@ area. Today one of its biggest bets is Cerdanya, where 15 of the 17 municipalities have already been wired, with 8,000 homes with access to its network. The operator even sponsors the La Molina ski resort and has 35,000 wired homes in the Catalan Pyrenees.
Adamo's network has made it possible to increase fiber optic coverage to 95% of Catalan homes, "an infrastructure that is vital to maintaining economic activity in rural areas, preventing their depopulation and guaranteeing them quality public and private services", noted Czermin.
