The European Central Bank (EC) has chosen two groups of companies to provide the network plumbing for its digital euro central bank digital currency (CBDC). The providers will carry traffic between banks, national central banks and the digital euro platform itself.
The first consortium pairs Italian payments firm Nexi with Deutsche Telekom. The second brings together Spain’s Telefónica and technology consultancy Indra. Both bids combine a telecoms operator with a payments or IT specialist.
The ECB launched the tender in August 2025. The first contract took effect on 28 September and covers the pilot phase that is already underway. The second provider comes on stream in May 2027. From 2029, both will be ready to support a live digital euro, assuming the Governing Council greenlights issuance and the EU legislation is in place. Banks and payment firms offering the digital euro will be free to connect through either provider.
The dual provider setup should look familiar to anyone who follows Eurosystem infrastructure. TARGET services including T2 and TIPS already rely on two network providers through the ESMIG gateway. One of those is Nexi-Colt, a partnership SIA formed with Colt in 2012, before SIA merged with Nexi in 2021. Winning the digital euro contract extends Nexi’s position as a Eurosystem network provider.
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