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| Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi . |
The Italian government is pushing to accelerate the take off of ultrafast broadband systems to help its debilitated economy, fuelling hypothesis it could drive occupant Telecom Italia (TLIT.MI) into an exorbitant update of its current framework.
The bureau of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi meets on Tuesday to affirm a 6 billion euro ($6.7 billion) arrangement to construct an across the nation fiber optic system by supplanting the maturing copper wires that run into supporters' homes.
Italy positions 28th out of the 34 individuals from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development regarding altered broadband memberships. The 40-year-old chief has made connecting together a large number of Italian family units with super quick links a need.
Renzi has taken a nearby enthusiasm for the issue, which he considers indispensable to modernizing Italy's economy and authorities see the billions of euros that would need to be contributed as a profitable help to general interest.
However the issue has run into a complex web of issues, running from whether to move straight from the old copper system to cutting edge glass-fiber links, the expenses of speculation, value setting, regulation and system access.
Pressures were revived at the weekend when daily papers reported the administration wanted to drive Telecom Italia to switch off its copper system by 2030, discounting resources worth billions of euros and moving up to cutting edge optical fiber.
The administration late on Saturday denied it would force such a due date yet the conflict highlighted troubles in arriving at concurrence with telephone administrators which will be doing the framework overhaul.
"The measures to be received will be restricted to applying the ultrabroadband plan to animate speculation by all the administrators: there will be no declaration on Telecom Italia or to force any self-assertive switch off of the copper system," lesser pastor Antonello Giacomelli said in an announcement.
Italy was adhering to an European focus of bringing associations running at a pace of 100 Megabites to a large portion of its populace by 2020, the announcement said.
A source familiar with the talks said Telecom Italia had warned Raffaele Tiscar, a member of Renzi's broadband task force who had reportedly signed the decree, about the potential damage that would stem from a forced switch-off.
Trade unions also voiced concerns, saying such a move would put at risk thousands of jobs at a time when Italy is grappling with record unemployment levels.
"Companies have been waiting years for rules that support investment and cannot be asked to pay for delays on the digital agenda," said the Cisl and Fistel unions in a statement.
One key problem is that while the government favors bringing fiber directly into the homes -- a more radical infrastructure upgrade that requires costly and time-consuming trench digging -- operators prefer a cheaper solution.
Instead of being forced to replace all its copper wires with fiber optic cables, Telecom Italia prefers a more gradual transition by first using existing infrastructure to deliver high-speed broadband through the street cabinets.
Sector regulator AGCOM also is favoring the so-called fiber-to-the cabinet architecture but the uncertainty has made it more difficult for phone operators to plan for long term investment.
Pending government decisions, Telecom Italia approved last month a plan to spend 10 billion euros to upgrade its aging domestic network and hire 4,000 people in the coming years.
The plan presented by Telecom Italia follows a failure to reach a deal to buy Metroweb, a part state-owned fiber company, due to disagreements over the ownership structure and opposition from rivals such as mobile phone giant Vodafon
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