The Italian government is due to approve a decree detailing the financial incentives for companies taking part in its €12bn high-speed broadband plan by the end of the week.
According to Milano Finanza, the decree, which will be reviewed by the…
The Italian government is due to approve a decree detailing the financial incentives for companies taking part in its €12bn high-speed broadband plan by the end of the week.
According to Milano Finanza, the decree, which will be reviewed by the European Commission on 9 June, should provide more details on the incentives to be assigned to those offering high-speed broadband services with speeds of over 100Mbps. These are likely to include state guarantees on loans or bonds issued to fund network investments, as well as tax credits for infrastructure investments.
Last week, Vodafone, Wind and Metroweb investors – state-owned lender CdP and infrastructure fund F2i – announced that they had signed a letter of intent laying the groundwork for an Italian fibre newco.
In the statement, the signatories left the door open to other operators and investors interested in joining the group project. Metroweb and Vodafone signed a similar agreement in March.
Meanwhile, incumbent Telecom Italia, which failed to reach an agreement with Metroweb as it wanted to secure full ownership of the operator, is in early-stage talks with the country’s largest utility Enel over a possible collaboration that would see the partly state-owned electricity provider open up its existing infrastructure to house fibre optic cables.
Matteo Renzi’s government launched an ambitious broadband plan in March, with the aim of bridging the digital divide between Italy and its European counterparts. The plan targets broadband speeds of 100 Mbps to 85% of the population – and a minimum of 30 Mbps to all Italians – by 2020 through a mix of private and public investments, including EU structural and development funds.
The government has so far been in favour of creating an infrastructure newco, based on a private public partnership (PPP) which would involve all the main operators. However, Telecom Italia, whose competitive edge lies in a nationwide copper wire network, opposed the idea, as it wants to lead the fibre transition process itself. The telco recently said it would increase its FTTH investment for 40 cities from an initial €500m to €650-700m.
