White AreasWhite Areas White Areas are those where private operators have not deemed it worthwhile to invest and therefore lack broadband and ultra-broadband infrastructure.: details on the progress of FTTHFTTH “Fiber to the Home” is the technology that connects POPs, located in exchanges, to end users’ property units with fiber optics. fiber deployment in inland areas of the country
Fiber optic FTTH numbers in
White Areas
In line with the concession granted by InfratelInfratel Infratel Italia S.p.A. is an in-house company of the Ministry of Economic Development and is the implementing party of the Government’s Broadband and Ultra-Broadband Plans. For more information visit www.infratelitalia.it, the project to adopt ultra-fast bandwidth for families, young people and small businesses in the White Areas involves the construction of about 90,000 km of networkNetwork In computer language, the term network defines a set of hardware and software devices which, when linked together, enable the exchange and sharing of resources, data or information. In a computer network, the devices that generate, route and terminate data are called network nodes. (more than twice the earth’s circumference) and the issuance of more than 100,000 authorisations in 6,232 municipalities (1), reaching a total of about 6.4 million property units (flats, offices, companies, and public administration offices).
The speed of infrastructure construction in the White Areas is now in line with the implementation schedule shared in June 2022 with Infratel and the Ministry of Economic Development (today MIMIT) and approved on 8 March 2023 in the State-Regions Conference.
The final balance of over 350 million euros of European funds was also enabled by the end of the year on the Municipalities financed with ERDF funds in the White Areas. The achievement of this objective makes it possible to secure the reporting by 31 December 2023, the expiry date of the same funds.
As at 31 August 2023, the following have been completed:
Around 69,190 km of the network, or 77% of the total envisaged in the plan. The network kilometres represent the infrastructure development (construction, excavation, reutilisation, cable laying, etc.) required for the implementation of the concession network. From the beginning of 2022 to 31 December, around 20,000 km of infrastructure had been constructed and this figure is expected to rise to around 20,000 by the end of the year: in just 12 months, the km constructed will be more than 53% of the approximately 37,400 km built in the four years from the start of operations (2017) to the end of 2021. During 2023, about 11,970 km of infrastructure was built.
4,612 FTTH municipalities (with Network Installation Completion Certificates – CUIRs), i.e. about 74% of the total 6,232 municipalities under the Infratel Concession. These municipalities correspond to 4.31 million property units (+14% compared to the end of 2022). During 2023, fiber optic infrastructure was completed and laid in 558 new municipalities for around 529,000 property units.
3,78 million saleable property units, +29% compared to the end of 2022. These are property units that are included in the saleability databases reserved for Open Fiber Partner Operators, which can thereby activate services at the request of end users.
The procedures of the Concession envisage further technical and administrative steps leading up to the acceptance of the municipalities and the reporting of funds allocated to the project, steps that involve the Infratel Concessionaire (2).
1. Total number of municipalities under review.
2. To date, in order to anticipate as far as possible citizens’ ability to access ultra-broadbandBroadband The term broadband, in telecommunications, generally refers to the transmission and reception of information data at a connection speed of over 144 kb/s. Broadband organises different channels, conveying different content in the form of data, such as Internet radio, animation, audio files and high-definition video. services, Infratel has allowed Open Fiber to also start services in municipalities without testing for which works have been completed with the issuance of the relevant CUIRs (Network Installation Completion Certificates). The other completed municipalities will enter into saleability as soon as the relevant exchanges (‘NDPs’) and/or the network section (so-called ‘primary’) connecting each municipality to the NDPNDP The NDP (Neutral Delivery Point) is the network node that allows all Operators to access the infrastructure built by Concessionaires such as Open Fiber. Each NDP terminates all the fibres laid in the area of the relevant municipality, which are used to bring ultra-broadband connection to users. located in a different municipality have been completed. The saleable FTTH Property Units are the sum of those reported – for each municipality in saleability – in Annex 1 (List of Commercialisation Municipalities) of the report on the progress of the strategic plan for Ultra-Broadband published by Infratel Italia on the site
