Immature Italians in the use of digital services and the Internet. The ultra-fast fiber network is growing at a much faster pace than in the past, but services are not keeping up. And so, in the ranking that measures the development of ultra-broadband in national and European markets, with a specific focus on both the demand side and the supply side, we find ourselves in contradiction with ourselves.
In 2019, in fact, Italy ranked 23rd in the I-Com Broadband Index (Ibi), developed by the Institute for Competitiveness (i-Com) as regards the degree of digitization of Italians. On the other hand, things went much better on the infrastructural development side: we are in 15th place in Europe with a score of 85,8 out of 100, mainly due to the now almost total coverage achieved in rural areas and in the Next Generation Access (NGA) network. In practice, a two-faced Italy in which Italy even recedes to 23rd place when it comes to measuring the degree of use of digital services by consumers (including businesses) and in which it instead gains positions with regard to fiber networks and broadband. All of this is the result of a double problem: on the one hand, in fact, we are growing less, and on the other, the other European countries are running faster. And the gap, also in terms of country competitiveness, is widening rather than narrowing.
FIBER AND INTERNET, THE DEMAND RISES BUT TOO LITTLE
the digital question – he explains the report “I don't want the moon. Digital technologies at the service of Italians” conducted by I-Com and presented in Rome – is growing, but not enough, and stands below the European average: the (negative) gap is particularly marked in e-commerce, used by just 36% of the population, and in subscribing with a speed of connection greater than 100 Megabits per second (Mbps), which represent just under 15% of the total e not even half of the European average.
From the point of view of the degree of digitization only Cyprus, Croatia, Greece and Bulgaria do worse than us in Europe. The other countries are running and we are struggling to recover the gap accumulated in the past. In one year, between 2018 and 2019, Italy scored 4,8 points more in this special ranking, thanks above all to the increase in subscriptions to fast connection subscriptions, which went from 2 to 15%: an increase, however insufficient to climb positions in the ranking given that we remained in 24th place. Also because the others have grown more: such as, for example Spain and Portugal which in the last year have leapt forward by almost 7 points.
FIBER AND INTERNET, THE OFFER IS IN CLEAR IMPROVEMENT
In terms of infrastructure, things are much better. We are 15th in Europe with a score of 85,8 out of 100, mainly due to the now almost total coverage achieved in rural areas and in the Next Generation Access (NGA) network. However, compared to 2018 we have lost two positions, to the advantage of Hungary and Estonia, mainly due to administrative difficulties and bureaucratic obstacles which still slow down the creation and improvement of telecommunications infrastructure in our country.
Northern Europe takes the lion's share according to the I-Com index. Sweden leads the European ranking thanks to a high level of coverage and the percentage of connections with speeds above 100 Mbps: over 71% of Swedish households subscribed to a subscription of this type, compared to a European average of 30,8%. In second and third place are the Denmark and Luxembourg, with a score of 98,8 and 97,4 out of 100 respectively. Netherlands and Latvia. Among those who have recorded less brilliant performances, however, there are Estonia and Germany, both dropped by six positions in the general classification, and France, which this year is positioned in 19th place.
“We are behind, too far behind, in the use of digital services. And we are in no way able to reduce the gap with other countries. Indeed, the novelty is that we have let ourselves be detached from a large part of Eastern and Southern Europe, which until recently was more or less within our reach. Now we need to react” is the comment by Stefano da Empoli, president of I-Com who concludes as follows: “Digital Italy is almost done. Now let's digitize the Italians".
