The Open Fiber wholesale-only venture of Italian utility Enel and state lender CDP has announced that it will open a further 2,000 FTTH construction sites in digital divide localities all over the country this year. The aim is to cover 1.3 million premises in 2019 after having previously launched some 1,300 FTTH rollouts. The figures were released at a meeting organised by Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) to examine the progress of the country’s national high-speed broadband plan. Newly-simplified legislation is expected to further accelerate the process of obtaining authorisations for rolling out fibre in order to achieve EU targets by 2025, said MISE in a statement, adding that the need to equip schools with gigabit broadband has become a top priority.
Open Fiber has been awarded all three national broadband auctions organised by MISE since 2017. These include a EUR 1.4 billion contract to roll out fibre cable in underserved parts of Abruzzo, Molise, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Tuscany and Veneto followed by a EUR 1.2 billion concession to build and operate a fibre network in the regions of Piedmont, Aosta Valley, Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata, Sicily and the Autonomous Province of Trento and a EUR 103 million tender to bring FTTH to a further 882 digital divide localities.
