The Housing Bank for Trade and Finance, has announced the signing of a financing deal with Jordanian company FiberTech for a total of JD25 million. The loan, which is in line with the bank's ongoing efforts to support national companies, will be instrumental in allowing FiberTech to achieve its long-term business goals.

FiberTech is a joint investment between the Jordan Electricity Company (JEPCO) and Umniah that works to provide new infrastructure for communications through large-scale over-ground fiber optic network in the areas where the Jordan Electricity Company operates, including the capital Amman, Zarqa, Russeifa, Madaba, and Balqa.

The signing ceremony took place at the bank's headquarters between Housing Bank CEO Ammar Al-Safadi, FiberTech Chairman of the Board of Directors Othman Bdeir, Umniah CEO and member of the FiberTech Board of Directors Ziad Shatara, and FiberTech CEO Sami Jarrar, and was attended by high-level executive team members from each company. 

The signing of this agreement is consistent with the Housing Bank's avid support for the Jordan's telecommunications sector, offering financing that enables the sector to continue providing high-quality services to its customers. Through this latest project, Umniah aims to provide a reliable high-speed Internet network to homes and businesses, while JEPCO will utilize the fiber optic network to support Jordan's digital transformation goals.

Housing Bank CEO Ammar Al-Safadi said that the agreement with FiberTech, which is a progressive and practical model for integration between the electricity and telecommunications sectors, is a noteworthy step forward, adding that the bank continues its significant role of supporting companies and advancing the growth of the local economy by providing integrated services and the necessary financing to strategic projects in vital sectors in the Kingdom. In addition, the bank also provides dedicated solutions and programs that allow companies to increase their competitiveness and advance their businesses.

Al-Safadi went on to highlight the Housing Bank's belief in the importance of supporting and developing investment projects due to their noticeable positive impact on the national economy, as well as their ability to create new jobs opportunities. According to Al-Safadi, this move is also consistent with the bank's objectives of supporting digital transformation in order to maintain pace with the rapid changes in the banking sector's use of digital technology. 

Also at the signing, FiberTech CEO Sami Jarrar spoke of the role of the Housing Bank and its outstanding contribution to the national economy through the financing of Jordanian enterprises, adding that the loan will help the company to continue providing a new communications infrastructure by creating a network of suspended optical fibers in the areas where JEPCO operates, providing ultra-fast internet services to communications companies and Internet service providers, ultimately benefiting approximately 1.4 million homes and businesses in Amman, Zarqa, Russeifa, Madaba, and Balqa.

With the financing, FiberTech will build, develop and operate a fiber optics network on existing electricity poles connected to JEPCO's grid in order to provide Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Internet services as well as other added-value wholesale services.  It will also link smart meters and other components of the electricity network owned by the JEPCO to more than 1.4 million households in Jordan served by the company, which comes out to more than 60% of Jordan's homes, in the governorates of Amman, Zarqa and Balqa, and Madaba. The FiberTech project's network will be used by communications companies and Internet service providers, who will, in turn, provide high-speed fiber Internet directly to subscribers.