Telecom Italia (TIM) and state-owned Infratel Italia are working to accelerate the deployment of ultra-fast broadband in Italy.
The move aims to support the growing need for high-speed connectivity as millions of people work and study from home due to coronavirus pandemic lockdown measures.
Under the agreement, which was first announced in July 2019, Infratel Italia will provide the public fibre-optic network infrastructure in eight regions: Abruzzo, Sardinia, Tuscany, Puglia, Calabria, Lazio, Lombardy and Marche. TIM will hook the cables up to local street cabinets and install electronics components.
These so-called “white areas” are subject to “direct intervention” by Infratel Italia as they have not been covered by commercial tenders in the past.
Public-private partnership
So far, work has been carried out in 241 municipalities and this is expected to rise to 310 by May, with the switch on of over 1,600 cabinets.
TIM says that in total, 653 municipalities will be covered by fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology 15 with fibre to the home (FTTH) technology – this is up from the 600 municipalities outlined in the original announcement. About 1 million citizens, businesses and public administrations in the municipalities involved are expected to benefit from the programme.
TIM will acquire a significant amount of dark-fibre infrastructure built by Infratel as part of the initiative. It called the programme a “major example of a virtuous synergy between the public and private sectors to bridge the digital divide in Italy”.