MAY 10, 2010 -- Italian competitive carriers Fastweb, Vodafone, and Wind have announced a collaborative plan to construct a national fiber network in Italy. The three carriers also launched the first trial of an open-access fiber to the home (FTTH) network in a district of Rome.
The current plan covers 15 major Italian cities within five years, with an investment of approximately 2.5 billion euros. In a second phase, the plan may be extended to cover towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants, reaching about 50% of the Italian population with a total investment of 8.5 billion euros, according to the principals.
The three carriers says the project is open to all public and private institutions, including incumbent Telecom Italia, willing to share in the investment.
Use of the open access network will be available to all interested operators, the three carriers promise, under what they described as a “fair and non-discriminatory” basis.
The pilot project will be launched in the Collina Fleming section of Rome, and aims to deliver all-optical connections to 7,000 homes by this July. The trial is open to other interested participants and aims to demonstrate the efficiency of an open access fiber infrastructure.