Ngns, digital divide, Corecom, ultra broadband, Agcom, Berec. These are just some of the topics touched upon by a recent report by Astrid – Foundation for Analysis, Studies and Research on the Reform of Democratic Institutions and on innovation in public administrations – edited by Paola M. Manacorda and Giovanna De Minico.
The research has as its object the development of new generation communication networks in Italy (NGNS), also and above all in consideration of the objectives expressed at European level, in the context of the 2020 Agenda. The fundamental role of local authorities in launching a strategic and "irreversible" process for the sustainable growth, modernization and competitiveness of the country system.
The report is divided into four parts: after a preliminary perspective on the evolutionary framework of the communications system, the field of analysis is restricted to the strategic models of local intervention, with reference to the digital divide and Ngns, and on the weight of Corecom – Regional Communications Committees – in the construction and development of new high-speed communication networks.
The latter, the leitmotif for the entire analysis, are mixed entities, characterized by a dual nature: they have the structure and functioning of the regional bodies, but they also act as functional bodies of the Communications Regulatory Authority (Agcom). The two relationships they maintain, structurally with the Regions and functionally with the Authority, allow them to have the skills to satisfy the needs and interests of local communitiesi – as any representative political body – but also purely technical skills, typical of the Authorities.
“But are the Regions and the Corecoms the most suitable entities to regulate and govern this matter? – questions the constitutionalist Ernesto Cheli in the presentation of the work – Doubt can arise when one reflects on the fact that the technological processes that invest the world of communication today push towards the interoperability of networks and [...] involve the need for centralization of the decisions to be taken, [...] but the importance of the role that can be attributed to the Regions and to the Corecoms for the purposes of preparing and guiding the solutions to be adopted on the terrain of the digital divide connected to territorial diversities is not diminished" .
It is precisely this last point that prompted the authors, in the first two chapters of the second part of the research, to investigate some models of local management in Italy, today partially elected to "best practices", which the metropolitan areas of Rome and Milan or the broadband project in some rural areas of Tuscany.
The central part of the work is dedicated to the illustration, in a comparative key with the Italian scenario, of theSpanish and German experience, with particular attention to the regulation and bodies involved in the governance of the communications sector. The analysis of the two European models has highlighted similarities with the Corecoms in reference to the creation of competent bodies with a territorially reduced range. However, each regulatory scheme maintains its own peculiarities, which allow the strengths to be grasped and the limitations to emerge at the same time.
In Spain, the Autonomous Communities have outlined a "network system of independent Authorities", which on the one hand exonerate the local executive from the political influence while maintaining the character of neutrality intact, but at the same time, due to the lack of a unified national vision, expose the same territorial articulations to the risk of excessive fragmentation of the regulatory function.
Il german case, on the other hand, it is characterized by the complete division between competence on network services – Federal exclusive through the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) – and content expertise, attributed to the Lma, local authorities of the Länder comparable to our own Corecoms. Despite this articulation, the German model "appears not without structural critical issues referring in particular to the effective independence of the ANR, which raise many perplexities regarding compatibility with the European and global regulatory framework".
The fourth and final part of the research is finally dedicated to the possible roles of the Corecoms in relation to the Ngns: the various regulatory options that could be adopted due to the development model of the new generation network - the fiber optic one for instance - and which could result in the establishment of a "network company" (FiberCo) with total public participation are thus analysed. , managed entirely by private entities or mixed capital, as hypothesized in a memorandum of understanding dated July 2011 by the Ministry of Economic Development and by the seven main players in the sector.
The report addresses a complex subject, shedding light on poorly explored aspects, such as the strength of the "local" in the management of digital evolution. The complexity lies precisely in identifying, from time to time, the most suitable solutions to support a change of scheme: a revolution, apparently only structural, which will produce effects and repercussions in the economic, social and cultural fields.
