Cairo Communication from publisher also becomes network operator. The group led by Urbano Cairo presented a binding offer to the Ministry of Economic Development for the assignment of rights to use, for a period of 20 years, the lot of frequencies in the television band for digital terrestrial broadcasting systems (multiplex lot 3).
The financial terms of the offer will be announced in a public session on 25 June. For the construction and technical management of the network, Cairo signed a multi-year term sheet with EiTowers (the tower company controlled by Mediaset) of the "full service" type (hospitality, assistance and maintenance, use of the transmission infrastructure). The consideration envisaged in favor of EiTowers is approximately 14 million for the entire transitional phase (January 2015-December 2017) and 18,3 million per year when fully operational (starting from 2018).
The agreement - subject to the issue of authorization by the ministry to Cairo Communication for the use of the frequency - also provides for an annual charge for EiTowers in favor of Cairo of between zero and 4 million from 2018 "if the bandwidth available on the mux is not fully utilized by Cairo".
The Cairo-EiTowers term sheet is expected to last until 2034 but provides for a right of free withdrawal in favor of the publisher starting from January 2015. The tower company - reports a press release - plans to pay its own investments for a value not exceeding 18 million between 2015 and 2016, including the purchase of transmitters made available to Cairo.
The signing of the agreements envisaged by the Term Sheet, subject to the release by the Ministry of Economic Development of the rights to use the radio and television frequencies mentioned above, is expected by October 31, 2014. The agreement "will allow EiTowers to significantly lengthen the average life of its contract portfolio and, when fully operational, to increase margins by exploiting the typical operating leverage of tower operators".
