Today I'm over 130 cities in which Open Fiber markets its services and approx 6 million families and businesses that can already benefit from an all-in network optical fiber. They have been over invested 3 billion euros for the benefit of the country, with the aim of recovering the delay in the development of telecommunications networks, which places Italy at the bottom of the international rankings. It is with this press release that Open Fiber wanted to respond to Luigi Gubitosi, CEO of Telecom Italia, who had stated during a conference in Rome:
"From public data, most recently from a parliamentary hearing a few days ago, it seems to emerge that precisely in those areas where there was a desire to make up for the delay, the delay in reducing the digital divide has instead increased, despite the public funds earmarked for such interventions are over 1,5 billion euros”.
Speaking of the integration between Tim and Open Fiber, Gubitosi then added that "it makes sense and should be pursued, but if this objective is not shared, Tim will in any case take on this crucial challenge for the country". To then conclude that "the Wholesale only model attempts have all turned out to be experiences of little effectiveness for the real diffusion of FTTH and largely of very limited scope compared to the models - largely prevalent throughout the world - of vertically integrated network operator ”.
Ultimately “there is no more time for endless debates and imaginative hypotheses. Now it's time for concrete results - adds Tim's CEO - Obviously the solution cannot be the creation of a disintegrated operator, eliminating experience, skills and synergies, pursuing peculiar systems and models that have not found success anywhere in the world"
Words which, of course, aroused the reaction of Open Fiber which underlines that "having been awarded the three calls for tenders by the Ministry of Economic Development for the construction of the public network in areas where other operators have declared that they are not interested in investing. There are over 2 Municipalities in which the works have started, around 450 those with the works completed and over 2 million connected property units, despite the 13 appeals Tim which blocked the start of the project for months”.
"Open Fiber's entry onto the market - concludes the press release - with the aim of creating a national fiber optic network, in line with the Italian and European digital agendas, has generated fierce competition from the outset Telecom Italia, which has a clear interest in preserving the value of its copper infrastructure and its dominant position."
In turn, Gubitosi spoke to respond - remotely - to the words of the president of Open Fiber Franco Bassanini who had defended the wholesale-only model the day before. In short, the duelists resume the duel. Which does not exclude, as happens in every negotiation and as has already happened in the past of the Italian telecommunications companies, that the skirmishes are functional precisely to the negotiation for a single vertically integrated network. Even if for now the positions seem to move away.
