Ultra broadband plan completed in Sicily

More than 300 municipalities involved, an investment of 239 million euro and a total of 4,500 kilometres of fibre optics. These are the essential numbers of the Ultra Broadband Plan in Sicily that has reached its destination. A Plan, promoted by the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy and managed by Infratel Italia, which at a national level envisages the construction of an ultra broadband infrastructure in over 6,000 Italian municipalities in the so-called 'white areas', i.e. villages and small towns lacking ultra fast connectivity. The infrastructure - which remains publicly owned - is built and operated under a concession by Open Fiber, which won the public tenders announced by Infratel Italia.

The details of the plan involving Sicily were presented by Open Fiber CEO Giuseppe Gola, Open Fiber's Head of Southern Area Emanuele Briulotta, and Infratel Italia CEO Pietro Piccinetti in the presence of Regional Economy Councillor Alessandro Dagnino. Sicily is the first in the South and among the first in Italy to complete the white areas infrastructure project. "With the closure of the Bul Plan in Sicily, we reach a strategic milestone in one of the most significant regions of the South, which has always shown a strong focus on technological innovation," says Giuseppe Gola, CEO of Open Fiber. "This Plan was conceived to guarantee even citizens in small municipalities a connection on a par with that available in large urban centres, and today we can proudly state that we have built a state-of-the-art digital infrastructure in Sicily. It is now essential to incentivise the adoption of the Ftth network in order to improve the lives of citizens, strengthen local businesses, and counter the depopulation of inland areas,' he says. In Sicily, moreover, Open Fiber is continuing the work envisaged in the 'Italia a 1 Giga' Plan, 30% co-financed by the telecommunications company, which has already invested EUR 100 million to bring fibre-optic connectivity to 312 municipalities in the nine provinces: to date, this intervention has made it possible to cover 122 thousand households with Ftth technology and another 9 thousand with the Fwa network.

Meanwhile, in the 300 municipalities involved in the Bul Plan in Sicily, more than 4,500 kilometres of fibre optics have been laid, enabling Ftth connectivity for about 380,000 real estate units and about 261,000 with Fwa technology (the mixed fibre-wireless connection), about 2,300 public administration offices (schools, hospitals, health centres, municipal offices, libraries, and police forces). "The completion of the Ultra Broadband Plan in Sicily represents a milestone of absolute importance, not only for the region, but for the entire country," says Pietro Piccinetti, CEO of Infratel Italia. Thanks to the joint efforts of the institutions with funding from Mimit and the Sicilian Region, and the operational activities of Infratel Italia and Open Fiber, Sicily is now the first region in southern Italy to complete infrastructure activities in white areas, guaranteeing citizens, businesses and public administrations connectivity that is up to the challenges of modernity. This is a concrete result of industrial policy and territorial cohesion, made possible by a long-term vision and effective planning: the public fibre, which we have helped to build, is a strategic infrastructure for the economic growth, competitiveness and digital inclusion of the territories'.

In addition to the small villages and municipalities in the inland areas involved in the Bul Plan, Open Fiber is present with its Ftth network in the Metropolitan Cities of Palermo, Catania and Messina and in 13 other large and medium-sized Sicilian cities with a private investment of 350 million euros and a total of 928,000 connected real estate units with almost 250,000 active customers. "This is another important result of the government led by Renato Schifani, thanks to which the Region is equipped with cutting-edge digital highways," says Alessandro Dagnino, councillor for the Economy of the Sicilian Region. "It is a strategic infrastructure for the growth of our territory, which marks a decisive step towards eliminating the digital divide, projecting the island to the forefront of the economy linked to technological innovation. It is a real opportunity to generate development, increase the population of the inland areas, and make our island more competitive and attractive for businesses and for all those who carry out work in which new technologies are widely used, such as digital nomads and south workers, opening up opportunities such as the implementation of telemedicine and increasing the efficiency of public administrations'.