Italian providers confirm one net plan
May 11, 2010
Italian ISPs Fastweb, Vodafone and Wind have again proposed a single fibre network infrastructure for the country. They already announced they would cooperate to take on Telecom Italia.
The CEOs of the three companies, Carsten Schloter, Paolo Bertoluzzo an Luigi Gubitosi, have lobbied the government to a single fibre infrastructure company. The three have also confirmed the launch of a shared-access fibre network in a 7,000 home test area in Rome.
The providers want an FTTH network to cover the country's 15 largest cities within five years, based on a total investment of about E2.5 billion by all providers involved in the project. The network would be open to all public and private entities, including Telecom Italia but that would require a commitment to the stabilisation of the current local loop unbundling fees paid to Telecom Italia.