“In the areas with market competition at the end of September we were over 50% and at the end of the year we will have around 60% of connected real estate units, ie with the fiber reaching the door of the houses, verticals included. By the end of the year, we will have reached a total of approximately 7,9 million homes, offices and businesses e our market share on ultra-broadband is 70%. We are focused on the implementation of the plan and we are doing a great job”, said the managing director of Open Fiber, Elisabetta Ripa in an interview with La Repubblica. The CEO takes stock of the progress of the works just as the group announces that Open Fiber's optical fiber is arriving in Bagheria, a city famous for its villas, on the outskirts of Palermo. The ultra-fast Web (1 Gigabit per second) will arrive in 16 homes, offices and shops, after the stipulation of the agreement between the Municipality and the company. The works are expected to be completed within 18 months
Open Fiber, a company controlled in half by Enel and Cdp, was born as a start-up and in its first three years of operation it carried out investments of approximately 3 billion: over one billion in 2019, to be added to the 900 million in 2018 and to which must be added the contribution of 1,4 billion from Infratel. Alignment with the objectives of the industrial plan for 2019 was also confirmed: in the main Italian cities and in the largest industrial districts in September, Open Fiber boasted coverage for 50% of the objectives with around 4,6 million homes sold in 112 cities open for marketing and which will become around 130 at the end of the year, out of a total of 271 major urban areas.
It's news of the day the arrival of Open Fiber in the town of Bagherito. The company led by Elisabetta Ripa has planned an investment of 5 million euros, funds aimed at around 16 thousand real estate units. The project for the small Sicilian town envisages the reuse of existing infrastructures: of the 32,5 kilometers that will form the new and widespread ultra-broadband telecommunications network, 7,5 will consist of underground or aerial systems already present in the city. Excavations will be carried out using innovative and low environmental impact methods, as is already the case in the rest of Italy. “With the agreement with Open Fiber we are realizing what we had foreseen in our program: digitizing the city with ultra-fast fiber, a digital highway for the future. We have started talking to the company since our first settlement for this innovative goal. It is a respectable partner with a share of Enel and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Today, after Palermo, Bagheria will be the second most digitized and avant-garde city to offer companies and citizens the Internet quickly. The project does not include costs for the Municipality and the citizens who will instead obtain benefits in terms of connectivity», declared the mayor of Bagheria Filippo Maria Tripoli.
In comparison with other European countries Italy loses positions in the index that measures the state of the art on the continent on new networks and their effective use. The index, compiled by the I-Com think tank led by Stefano Da Empoli, showed a merciless picture for the peninsula, which slips to 24th place even if it confirms the leap forward of the fast infrastructure, not supported however by an increase in digital consumption.
