The third call for tenders for the construction of the public ultra-broadband network in Puglia, Calabria and Sardinia has been published, with a public budget of 103 million euro. More than 378 citizens are affected by the interventions envisaged in the third tender and more than 296 real estate units in the 882 municipalities involved. The tender, like the previous ones of 3 June and 8 August 2016 (whose construction sites are already open), involves two phases:
- the prequalification phase, in which the interested economic operators must provide information with reference to the participation requirements and on the infrastructures they intend to reuse;
- the offer phase, reserved for pre-qualified bidders.
The object of the tender is the design, construction, maintenance and management in wholesale mode of a passive and active access network, which allows the provision of services to end users at 100Mbps in download and 50Mbps in upload for at least 70% of the real estate units in the Cluster C and at least 30Mbps in download and 15 Mbps in upload for the remaining real estate units of Cluster C and for those of Cluster D.
Headquarters of the PA, schools, healthcare facilities, industrial districts will be reached by connections over 100Mbps regardless of the belonging Cluster. The network will be licensed for 20 years and will remain in public ownership.
The tender complies with the provisions of the European Commission (decision n. SA 41647 of 30 June 2016) and has obtained the positive opinion of all the competent authorities in the matter (AGCOM, ANAC AND AGCM).
This announcement completes the launch of the "White Areas Plan" which has already seen the awarding of the first two tenders.
The Italian strategy for ultra-broadband represents the national reference framework for public initiatives to support the development of ultra-broadband networks in Italy, in order to meet the objectives set by the European Digital Agenda by 2020.
The implementation of the Strategy is entrusted to the MiSE, which makes use of the in-house company Infratel Italia Spa, controlled by Invitalia, and provides for coverage of at least:
- 100 Mbit/s up to 85% of the population
- 30 Mbit/s of the remaining share of the Italian population
- 100 Mbit/s of offices and public buildings (schools, hospitals, etc.), of areas of greatest economic interest and population concentration, of industrial areas, of the main tourist locations and logistics hubs.
The Strategy is implemented in two phases:
- "White Areas" plan for which work is already underway following the two tenders already awarded;
- "Grey Areas" plan, for which the consultation phase with stakeholders has just begun, before proceeding with the request for formal approval by the European Commission.
Public intervention aims to ensure equal opportunities for growth in the various areas of the country, accompanying the development of innovative services for the benefit of citizens and businesses.
Source: Invitalia
