Investment firm KKR closed a $17 billion infrastructure fund that it will use to invest in broadband access and other infrastructure projects across North America and Europe.

Brandon Freiman, the head of North American infrastructure at KKR, stated the growing need to build and upgrade critical infrastructure, such as broadband access, transportation and digital communications, required funding “far in excess of public sources,” which provides opportunities for private investment firms such as KKR.

KKR’s Global Infrastructure Fund (GIF) IV is more than twice the size of its predecessor, GIF III, which closed at $7.4 billion in 2018. KKR announced its first Global Infrastructure Fund in 2008, which raised $1 billion in 2012. KKR’s GIF II closed in 2015 with $3.1 billion in funding.

New York City–based KKR plans to invest $1 billion of its own capital into the latest fund. KKR didn’t disclose how much it plans to spend on broadband or any of the other infrastructure projects.

The news comes on the same day Telecom Italia opted to start formal talks to assess a €10.8 billion non-binding offer for the group by KKR almost four months after the US investor made its initial approach.