Digitalisation, Anie Sit alarm: 'Italy's 1-Giga plan in trouble'
Network infrastructure companies point the finger at delays in permits, labour shortages and economic sustainability. President Luigi Piergiovanni: 'Without extraordinary measures the system will miss the 2026 target'
3' min read
3' min read
"Our companies have invested in means and resources, but today they face delays in issuing invoices, labour shortages, and have to cope with the need for continuity in workflows". Therefore, 'if the operating conditions do not change, the system will not be able to meet the NRP targets by 2026'.
Luigi Piergiovanni, president of Anie Sit - the association that, within the Anie Federation, represents companies active in the construction and management of network infrastructures - launches an alarm from the columns of the Sole 24 Ore on the 1-Giga Italy Plan, one of the cornerstones of the country's digitisation process, supported by 3.4 billion euro from the NRP. 'We are at 48% average progress,' he says. But, as is often the case, the average hides great inequalities: in some regions, work is progressing, in others it stops for months, waiting for a permit, authorisation or approval from a municipal technical office. In the meantime, companies, which have invested in means and personnel, are consuming cash and patience, while the NRP clock keeps ticking. Deadline: June 2026. Just over a year to go.
"It is inevitable: we need rapid action on permits, price lists, taxation and incentives, but also a realistic reflection on the timetable," emphasises Piergiovanni, who will speak today in Rome at the conference 'Tlc supply chain and the digitalisation of Italy: critical issues and proposals for achieving the objectives of the NRP', in which network operators, institutions (Department for Digital Transformation and Mimit), companies and industry stakeholders will participate.
But it is not only territorial inhomogeneity that weighs. Another critical factor for the sector is the serious shortage of skilled labour. A recruitment difficulty that is increasingly becoming the true paradox of digitalisation: while the technological revolution advances, there is a lack of qualified personnel to lay the cables.
"Something has been done," Piergiovanni points out. "In Sardinia, Fibercop, which manages that lot, has recognised an increase of around 25 per cent in the price list for the work and has moved ahead of schedule compared to forecasts, allowing a workforce of around 500 people to be developed." The Anie Sit president's thought is also for the 'mobility bonus of 100 euro per day per person for those who move recognised by Open Fiber, which has allowed the movement of 400 Fte'.
