Italy submits EUR 7 bln broadband plan to EC for approval

News Broadband Italy 10 JUN 2015
Italy submits EUR 7 bln broadband plan to EC for approval

The Italian government has submitted its EUR 7 billion plan of incentives for a national high-speed fibre network to the European Community for approval, reports Il Sole 24 Ore. An Italian government delegation led by deputy general secretary Raffele Tiscar met EC antitrust representatives to discuss the proposed package of measures to boost top broadband speeds from 30 Mbps to 100 Mbps. The government’s aim is to go beyond the objectives of the digital agenda for Europe and bring high-speed broadband of 100 Mbps to 85 percent of Italy's population by 2020, compared to the European goal of 50 percent.

Drafts of the document include measures such as a voucher scheme for users who migrate to 100 Mbps broadband and the opening up of the gas and electricity grids of Italian utility companies such as Enel to accelerate the rollout of fibre-optic cables.

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Network equipment, Fibre, Internet Access, Wholesale, Government policy

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