A 3,68 billion euro plan that will bring the ultra-fast connection to the Italian fixed network by 2026, i.e. 4 years ahead of the target of the European Digital Compass, which sets digital objectives for 2030. The project prepared by the Government – Ministry of Innovation led by Vittorio Colao - and which is about to be sent to Brussels is part of the investments of the Pnrr and is called "Italia a 1 Giga", because precisely with the new infrastructure the peak download speed will be higher than 1 Gigabit per second for 6,2 million new addresses, understood as street numbers and therefore tens of millions of citizens throughout the country, especially in the Center-South where the connection is currently slower. For example, over 800.000 street numbers will be reached in Calabria alone, more than double that of Lazio and Lombardy; and then, 622 thousand in Puglia, 611 thousand in Sardinia, 518 thousand in Tuscany, 418 thousand in Emilia Romagna. The tenders for the construction of the infrastructures are expected during the first quarter of 2022.
Compared to other tenders of the past, this will guarantee greater efficiency as the network, once completed, will remain the property of the operators who built it: a so-called "incentive" system, because in this way companies are more incentivized to complete the infrastructure. For example, the mechanism with which Open Fiber brought optical fiber to white areas (the most remote ones of the country, where operators have no interest in investing without public aid) was different, then obtaining not ownership but a twenty-year concession from of local authorities. This time the subject of the tender is not the white areas but the gray or black ones, i.e. where one or more networks are already present but where the internet connection is still slow, and it is precisely this that justifies the use of public funds from the Pnrr, for the principle of the “technological leap”.
Mapping was conducted by Infratel, in collaboration with 47 operators throughout the national territory: these operators have presented their investment plans between now and 2026, and where a connection speed permanently over 300 megabits per second will not be guaranteed, here we will intervene with the State aid, in this case authorized and indeed requested by the EU on the basis of the indications of the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) of 2020. Public intervention will finance the work for 65%-70% presumably. The construction of these infrastructures is envisaged in full compliance with technological neutrality and the operators who wish to participate in the tenders will also be able to form a consortium.
In parallel with the "Italia a 1 Giga" plan, supported by the Minister of Digital Transition Vittorio Colao, there is also a decree from the Mise which provides for the installation of the ultra-broadband in 19 smaller Italian islandsbased on their surface area. The regions concerned are Lazio, Puglia, Tuscany, Sardinia and Sicily and the islands are, for example, Ponza, Capraia, the Tremiti Islands, the island of San Pietro in Sardinia, the Aeolian Islands, Asinara. The strategic importance of covering even these small realities is their tourist value: for several months of the year they are invaded by travellers, often foreigners, who have growing needs for a solid connection. The investment in this case is around 60,5 million and also looks at 5G. Also in this case the tender will be managed by Infratel, the Mise's in-house company.
