ROME: The Italian government is pushing to speed up the roll-out of ultrafast broadband networks to help its ailing economy, fuelling speculation it could force incumbent Telecom Italia into a costly overhaul of its existing infrastructure.
The cabinet of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi meets on Tuesday to approve an 6 billion euro ($6.7 billion) plan to build a nationwide fiber optic network by replacing the aging copper wires that run into subscribers’ homes.
Italy ranks 28th out of the 34 members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of fixed broadband subscriptions. The 40-year-old premier has made linking together millions of Italian households with super fast cables a priority.
Speculation about the plans has been heating up before Tuesday’s meeting with little sign of agreement between the government and phone companies including former state monopoly Telecom Italia .
Renzi has taken a close interest in the issue, which he considers vital to modernizing Italy’s economy and officials see the billions of euros that would need to be invested as a valuable boost to overall demand.
However the issue has run into a complex web of problems, running from whether to move straight from the old copper network to modern glass-fiber cables, the costs of investment, price setting, regulation and network access.
