Italian operator Fastweb has followed the announcement of a network sharing deal with Open Fiber by revealing a plan to expand its proprietary '5G' Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network with a view to bringing 1Gbps broadband speeds to 16 million homes and businesses, around 60 percent of the country, by 2024. The infrastructure expansion project announced by Fastweb CEO Alberto Calcagno is part of a EUR 3 billion, 5-year investment drive and comes after the operator begun trialling 5G FWA technology in Milan in collaboration with Samsung earlier this year.
The pilot conducted in the 26GHz band achieved peak download speeds of 1Gbps and proved that the systems can act as a viable alternative to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections, said Fastweb. It added that the wide availability of fibre at cabinet level in Italy makes it easier to deploy antennas for 5G FWA at ideal distances from buildings, completing the final 250-500 meters of the network.
Presenting the plans, Calcagno said Fastweb is the “first operator in Italy and among the first in Europe to have grasped the enormous potential of 5G FWA for the construction of an ultra-broadband fixed line network.” He said the 5G FWA network will first be rolled in the pilot city of Bolzano in northern Italy in the coming months before continuing to the rest of the territory.
The aim is to double the number of families and businesses reached by Fastweb’s proprietary network of up to 1Gbps from the current figure of 8 million – including 4 million via FTTC and another 4 million via FTTH – to 16 million, or 60 percent of premises. That figure will rise to 90 percent thanks to the deal to access Open Fiber’s network in 80 major Italian cities as well digital divide areas.
