Open Fiber is leading the Infratel tender worth 1,4 billion. The company 50% controlled by Enel and Cdp would have obtained the highest technical score in all five lots of the tender for the construction of the public ultra-broadband in “market failure areas” in six regions: Abruzzo, Molise, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Tuscany and Veneto. This is a provisional ranking, in which Tim, Estra and the e-Via consortium (Retelit, Eolo and Eds) have also pre-qualified. The fiber optic network will be given a twenty-year concession.
Returning to Open Fiber's offers, however, they would have been defined as "anomalous" by the commission, as they exceeded the parameters indicated in the tender notice. The official award is expected in the coming weeks, following an assessment of economic sustainability.
Open Fiber, in addition to the 250 cities of the "market success areas" (clusters A and B) in which it expects to invest directly in the next few years for the construction of the ultra-broadband network, is participating in tenders announced by the State (Infratel ) aimed at financing and bringing optical fiber also to areas of our country where private investment alone would not be able to support the costs for building the infrastructure.
These are clusters C and D, by definition considered "market failure areas", which mainly concern rural or low-density areas where the Internet arrives at low speed. In these areas, more investment is needed and laying cables is more expensive; for this reason it is necessary to provide non-repayable state support (the aforementioned 1,4 billion in this case).
As for Tim, the company announces that it has taken note of the provisional award of the first 5 lots of the Infratel tender to Open Fiber, owned by Enel and Cdp. However, according to press rumors, for the tender to be awarded, it will be necessary to wait for some additional checks that the Commission will have to carry out on the adequacy of the offer.
In areas with market failure, such as rural or low-density areas, Tim owns a network - continues the note - and will intervene selectively with its fixed and mobile ultra-broadband coverage, offering its customers the highest quality in the shortest possible time.
In any case, the outcome of the tender will not slow down Tim's strategic and market positioning plan, which confirms the targets and will accelerate the investment plans to cover the whole country in a very short time.
At the same time, during a press conference held today in Perugia, the CEO of Open Fiber announced that the company has wired 50% of the buildings in the Umbrian capital with ultra-fast optical fiber and aims to reach 80% of the entire Municipality including the 8 industrial areas of the city by May 2017 thanks also to agreements with the main operators in the sector, including Vodafone, Wind Tre, Tiscali and Go Internet.
The CEO of Vodafone Italia, Aldo Bisio, also expressed his opinion on the issue: "We have already begun marketing - explained Bisio - since OpEn Fiber has delivered us 30 real estate units ahead of schedule". For Bisio it is a "radical change of model", because "the impartiality represents a revolution with respect to the Telecom model with which we are still confronted today".
