The "City of the Thousand", so nicknamed for the high number of volunteers from Bergamo who took part in the historic expedition of the Risorgimento, will soon also become the city of a thousand megabit, such as the speed enabled by the new entirely fiber optic network that Open Fiber is building in the municipal area. The project, whose executive details were defined by a special agreement signed last August between Palazzo Frizzoni and the company owned by Enel and Cassa depositi & prestiti, was illustrated in the presence of the Mayor of Bergamo, Giorgio gori, of the Chief Executive Officer of Open Fiber, Elisabetta Ripa, and the Councilor for Innovation, James Angeloni.
Thanks to an investment of approx 20 million euros, Open Fiber will connect 49mila real estate units to ultra-broadband through a network entirely in fiber optic mode FTTH (Fiber To The Home, fiber to the house): this solution will guarantee maximum performance for citizens and businesses, restoring a connection speed that cannot be reached with other networks in circulation (up to 1 Gigabit per second), and being able to count on a very low latency, lower than 5 milliseconds.
The overall development of the new infrastructure is equal to almost 300 kilometers, with a reuse of existing networks, overhead or underground, that exceeds 65% of the work thanks also to the fruitful collaboration with A2A: this factor will make it possible to limit the environmental impact of the new construction sites to make network installation interventions less invasive. They will be laid overall beyond 29mila kilometers of fiber optics, which will also be used to wire 50 municipal properties, including schools, offices, offices of the PA and bodies connected to the Municipality, which Open Fiber has undertaken to connect as part of the agreement signed with the Administration.
“Thanks to this opportunity – commented the mayor of Bergamo Giorgio gori – we continue our commitment to a more city smart, implementing the design prepared by the Renzi Government, which had imagined a service that would allow all operators to bring connectivity to the homes of our fellow citizens, making it possible not to foresee further future tampering with public land to lay other cables. The new infrastructure will allow all citizens of Bergamo to develop cutting-edge technologies in their own homes: the works to complete the city's cabling will take place in these months, with an important economic investment to be paid by Open Fiber”.
"Our network will be a really important ally for Bergamo - underlined the CEO of Open Fiber, Elisabetta Ripa – a city with a strong entrepreneurial vocation and a great cultural heritage. We were born to win the challenge of digitizing the country, and for this reason we are very happy to get to the heart of a plan that will also provide this area with an infrastructure future proof. Being able to connect to the web and navigate at high speed increases inclusiveness and stimulates the productivity and competitiveness of businesses. We are slowly bridging the digital gap with the other European states: a complex job, a great team effort with enlightened municipal administrations, a crucial work to support the country's development".
The agreement signed by Open Fiber with the Municipality of Bergamo establishes the excavation and restoration methods for laying the optical fiber, as required by the ministerial decree of 2013. As mentioned, Open Fiber will use, where possible, cable ducts and underground or aerial networks already existing ones, while the excavations will be carried out favoring innovative and low environmental impact methods.
“Some areas of the city to date are still low connectivity – explains the Councilor for Innovation James Angeloni – bringing the fiber to citizens' homes without using the old copper cables will also allow citizens of the peripheral districts to have one connectivity of the level of large European cities. The work of the Department of Innovation will be to direct the cabling so that all citizens can use the same service”.
This investment strengthens the role of Open Fiber as an infrastructural player in Lombardy: within the successful market areas (Cluster A&B), it amounts to almost 500 million euros for the economic commitment of the company to connect, in addition to Bergamo, also Milan and the hinterland, Monza, Brescia, Busto Arsizio, Varese, Pavia, Sondrio, Cremona, Como, Limbiate, Cesano Maderno and Seregno, for a total of 1 million e 400mila connected homes. As regards the market failure areas (Cluster C&D), included in the Infratel tenders (Mise company) which were always won by Open Fiber, the value of the tender is approximately 413 million euros, and will allow you to connect 1 million and 300 thousand real estate units of approx 1500 common.
