Without the resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr), 71% of the house numbers present on the national territory in 2026 would benefit from a network with speeds exceeding 300 megabits per second, mainly consisting of networks with speeds exceeding 1 gigabit per second. While the remaining 29% of the country would be subject to intervention. An elaboration carried out by the research team of theInstitute for Competitiveness (I-Com) on the basis of data provided by Infratel - the in-house company of the Ministry of Economic Development - which conducted the recent consultation on the state of fixed networks in our country and on the investment intentions of operators between now and the next five years, in which Italy will have to complete the Pnrr.
INTERNET TO 1 GIGA: A RAIN OF BILLIONS
Covid-19 has certainly accelerated the digital transformation process in our country. A tragic event which nonetheless represented a significant change of pace for Italy thanks also to all the interventions and measures adopted to relaunch the country. Among these, the Pnrr plays a crucial role. In the wake of the new European strategy Digital compass, one of the main objectives is the ambitious achievement, by 2026, of coverage of the entire national territory with connectivity up to 1Gbit/s.
In particular, among the resources allocated 6,7 billion euros they are reserved for 7 projects that make up the strategy for ultra-broadband, in continuity with the strategy launched in 2015 and with the previous initiatives aimed at reducing the digital gap in our country.
INTERNET AT 1 GIGA: THE REGIONS THAT RUN FASTEST
Plan "Italy at 1 Giga” aims to provide 1 Gbps download and 200 Mbps upload connectivity in the gray and black areas of the country. Without these resources, the provinces with the highest connection speed by 2026 would be those of North-East, Genoa, Rome and Prato. At the bottom of the ranking, however, we would find Acquila, Catanzaro, Potenza Oristano, Nuoro and the South of Sardinia.
According to the report, by 2026, the first Italian region for coverage of at least 1 gigabit per second will be the Friuli-Venezia Giulia (84%), Followed by Sicily (79%), Trentino South Tyrol (78%) e Liguria (76%). Very good too Lazio and Marche (75%) e Veneto (74%). While among the southern regions only Puglia and Molise appear above the national average. According to forecasts, 70% of civic buildings will be covered by a network with speeds over 1 Gbps both in Puglia and in Molise. In the latter, however, a further 6% of house numbers are added with a speed lower than 1 Gbps but higher than 300 Mbps. Overall, a fairly uniform situation emerges, with greater criticalities in Sardinia, Calabria, Basilicata and Abruzzo, where over 40% of the citizens would be considered the subject of intervention.
The provincial photograph indicates a high diffusion (greater than 80%) of the ultra-fast network (≥300Mbps) in some provinces of Lombardy and those of the North East, the latter particularly performing also with regard to networks with speeds exceeding 1 Gbps.
INTERNET AT 1 GIGA: SICILY PUT THE TURBO
In the rest of Italy, five Sicilian provinces stand out – Syracuse (89%), Catania (88%), Palermo (88%), Ragusa (87%) and Caltanissetta (83%) – which are among the top 20 provinces for coverage of at least 300 Mbps. Also in the Top 20 are Cagliari (84%) for Sardinia, Bari (85%) for Puglia, Campobasso (87%) for Molise, Ascoli Piceno (84 %) for the Marches and Prato (85%) for Tuscany.
Although not included in the Top 20, the provinces of Genoa, Rome, Salerno, Macerata and Ancona are also noteworthy, all with a coverage of at least 300 Mbps, by 2026, exceeding 80%. As for the coverage at full speed (≥ 1 Gbps), the top twenty provinces all have a figure above 80%. These include most of the provinces already mentioned, in particular those of the North East, the provinces of Genoa, Rome, Prato, Ascoli Piceno, Bari, Cagliari and the five Sicilian provinces mentioned above.
On the other hand, there are, however, provinces in which it will be necessary a massive state intervention in order to reach the performance threshold of 300 Mbps necessary to guarantee the connectivity objective of at least 1 Gbps defined in the Digital Compass. These are Oristano, Nuoro, South Sardinia - where the intervention will affect approximately 3 out of 4 street numbers - Chieti, Vibo Valentia, Sassari, L'Aquila, Catanzaro, Teramo and Potenza, where the street numbers below the threshold vary from 51% of Potenza to 61% of Chieti.
