Italy to Award €3.7 Billion Through Gigabit Broadband Fund

Italy to Award €3.7 Billion Through Gigabit Broadband Fund
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The government of Italy allocated €3.7 billion to boost the deployment of 1Gb/s broadband services in underserved areas. Infratel Italia, the agency in charge of managing the project, said that the aim is to cover further 7 million households with high-speed broadband networks offering download speeds of 1Gb/s and 200Mb/s uploads.

Interested parties can submit bids until. A total of 15 geographic lots are available for the auction and the work must be completed by mid-2026. The public funding will contribute up to 70 percent of the costs incurred. The call for tender is the first under the new Italia a 1 Giga plan, one of several initiatives within the Italian ultra-broadband strategy. The approach also includes plans to connect schools and healthcare facilities and promote the development of 5G networks.

Funds will come from Italy’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, the nation’s program under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, which aims to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent data from the FTTH Council Europe showed Italy was expected to increase its FTTH footprint to 16 million households by the end of 2021, up 46 percent over 2020. By 2026, the figure is expected to reach 26 million households.