Iberdrola has announced that it has reached an agreement with Lyntia Networks, owned by Antin Infrastructure Partners, for the exclusive, long-term assignment of the rights of use of part of its dark fibre network - the excess capacity - in Spain.

The EUR260 million (US$291 million) transaction also envisages the purchase by Lyntia of the company's optical fibre customer contract portfolio, for both dark and lit fibre.

Iberdrola has therefore finalised the very first optical fibre use assignment transaction in the Spanish and European markets, adding value to a non-strategic asset and setting the trend for future movements in the telecoms market as it focuses on the growth around 5G.

Under this agreement, Iberdrola will cede the use of part of the 15,000 km of cable it manages in Spain, with hundreds of thousands of optical fibres.

The completion of the operation is subject to its mandatory acceptance by Spain's National Spain's National Authority on Markets and Competition