"Rapporto Caio" Achieving the Objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) in Italy: Prospects and Challenges

Achieving the Objectives of the
Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) in Italy:
Prospects and Challenges

Report of the expert advisory team appointed by President Letta:
Team Leader: Commissioner Francesco Caio
J. Scott Marcus and Gérard Pogorel

with the assistance of Vittorio Trecordi and Valerio Zingarelli.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the authors.

Rome, 30 January 2014

30 January 2014

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Report of the President’s Expert Team

Contents
Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................6
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................14
1.1. The nature of the mandate .................................................................................................14
1.2. Organisation, methodology and description of the process ...............................................15
1.3. Structure of this document .................................................................................................16
2. Where does Italy stand today in achieving DAE goals? ............................................................17
2.1. Basic broadband coverage .................................................................................................18
2.2. Fast and ultra-fast broadband coverage .............................................................................19
2.3. Penetration .........................................................................................................................21
2.4. Broadband speed delivered and quality of service ............................................................22
3. Alternatives to the fixed telecommunications network .............................................................23
3.1. Cable ..................................................................................................................................23
3.2. Mobile services ..................................................................................................................24
3.3. Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB) ....................................................................................27
3.4. Satellite ..............................................................................................................................28
4. Promising developments and opportunities ...............................................................................29
4.1. Deployment plans of the network operators ......................................................................29
4.2. Feasibility of cost-effective FTTCab/VDSL2 ...................................................................31
4.3. Increased availability of catch-up video ............................................................................36
5. Worrisome developments and challenges .................................................................................37
5.1. Will deployment plans continue to be pursued? ................................................................38
5.2. Covering the remaining households ..................................................................................38
5.3. Limited alternatives to Telecom Italia’s fixed network .....................................................39
5.4. Challenges in putting capital effectively to work ..............................................................40
5.4.1.
Capital that is locked up ............................................................................................41
5.4.2.
The tendency to invest in covering the same areas ....................................................41
5.4.3.
Striking the right balance in order to avoid duplicative or inefficient use of capital 41
5.4.4.
Sharing concerns that are specific to VDSL2 ............................................................42
5.4.5.
The mobile network ...................................................................................................43
5.4.6.
Use of infrastructure from other network industries..................................................44
5.5. Challenges regarding demand............................................................................................44
5.5.1.
An aging population, with limited access to a personal computer ............................44
5.5.2.
Internet penetration ....................................................................................................46
5.5.3.
Fixed broadband penetration .....................................................................................47
5.5.4.
Overall fixed lines......................................................................................................49
5.5.5.
Media .........................................................................................................................50
5.5.6.
Internet traffic ............................................................................................................53
5.5.7.
Overall assessment of demand factors .......................................................................53
6. Prospects for achieving the DAE broadband objectives............................................................55
6.1. Achievement of DAE Objective 1: full coverage with basic broadband in 2013 .............56
6.2. Achievement of DAE Objective 2: full coverage with 30 Mbps broadband by 2020 .......56
6.3. Achievement of DAE Objective 3: adoption of 100 Mbps broadband by 2020 ...............58
6.4. Comprehensive cost modelling is called for ......................................................................59
7. Ensuring progress toward meeting DAE Objectives .................................................................61
7.1. Leadership on the part of the Italian government ..............................................................62
7.2. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)...................................................................................63
7.3. The procedure ....................................................................................................................64
7.4. Acting on the results of the monitoring process ................................................................66
8. Findings and recommendations .................................................................................................68
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8.1. Findings .............................................................................................................................69
8.1.1.
Where does Italy stand today in achieving DAE goals? ............................................69
8.1.2.
Alternatives to the fixed telecommunications network .............................................69
8.1.3.
Promising developments and opportunities ...............................................................69
8.1.4.
Worrisome developments and challenges .................................................................70
8.1.5.
Prospects for achieving the DAE broadband objectives............................................70
8.1.6.
Ensuring progress toward meeting DAE Objectives .................................................71
8.2. Recommendations..............................................................................................................72
8.2.1.
Periodic monitoring of progress ................................................................................73
8.2.2.
Create and fund a National Broadband Plan..............................................................73
8.2.3.
Promote infrastructure sharing where appropriate ....................................................74
8.2.4.
Initiatives to harmonise and reallocate spectrum.......................................................75
8.2.5.
Promote demand for broadband services ...................................................................75
8.2.6.
Index of specific recommendations ...........................................................................76
Annex 1: Interviews conducted .........................................................................................................78
Annex 2: VDSL2, vectoring, and G.Fast technology ........................................................................79
Feasibility of different broadband solutions in the Italian scenario ..........................................81
Annex 3: The cost of achieving DAE objectives...............................................................................82
Urban, suburban and rural zones ...................................................................................................82
Estimating the need for improved coverage ..................................................................................83
Estimating the cost per household of each upgrade.......................................................................83
Estimating the overall cost of achieving each of the three DAE Objectives .................................85

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Figures
Figure 1. Basic broadband coverage in Italy (end of 2012). .............................................................18
Figure 2. Fast broadband (more than 30 Mbps) coverage in Italy (end of 2012). .............................19
Figure 3. Fast broadband coverage by Member State (end of 2012). ................................................20
Figure 4. Fixed broadband penetration (January 2013). ....................................................................21
Figure 5. Percentage of inhabitants served by broadband of a given effective speed (2012). ..........22
Figure 6. The evolution of technologies that provide broadband over copper. .................................32
Figure 7. Italian access network and FTTx options. ..........................................................................33
Figure 8. The journey of the Italian network from today to tomorrow. ............................................33
Figure 9. The relationship of sub-loop length to speed under vectoring. ..........................................34
Figure 10. Percentage of households with an Internet connection (as of March 2013). ......................46
Figure 11. Fixed broadband lines and penetration in Italy. ...............................................................47
Figure 12. Projected fixed broadband adoption in Italy to 2020. ......................................................48
Figure 13. Broadband subscriptions in Italy (3Q2011-3Q2013). ......................................................48
Figure 14. Fixed access lines in Italy (3Q2011 - 3Q2013). ...............................................................49
Figure 15. Predicted Internet traffic (2012-2017)..............................................................................50
Figure 16. Online video revenues. .....................................................................................................51
Figure 17. Bandwidth consumption per household, Italy and selected countries (2012). .....................52
Figure 18. Predicted evolution of bandwidth demand in Italy over time. .........................................53
Figure 19. The relationship of sub-loop length to speed under vectoring. ........................................80
Figure 20. G.Fast performance over lines of 100 metres ..................................................................81
Figure 21. Population distribution of Italy (households, 2010). ........................................................83

Tables
Table 1. Spectrum bands that might be of interest for wireless services. ..........................................26
Table 2. Cost per household to deploy various broadband technologies (euro). ...............................35
Table 3. Internet adoption as a function of age (November 2012). ...................................................45
Table 4. CAPEX required to achieve 30 Mbps coverage. .................................................................58
Table 5. EU cities with the greatest broadband investment needs (€ million) ..................................58
Table 6. Coverage gap for each technology type in Italy (2011). .....................................................83
Table 7. Costs per home connected of FTTCab/VDSL with vectoring (at 70% penetration)...........84
Table 8. Upgrades needed to achieve DAE Objective 1. ..................................................................85
Table 9. Cost to achieve DAE Objective 1. .......................................................................................85
Table 10. Upgrades needed to achieve DAE Objective 2. ................................................................86
Table 11. Cost to achieve DAE Objective 2. .....................................................................................86
Table 12. Upgrades needed to achieve DAE Objective 3. ................................................................87
Table 13. Cost to achieve DAE Objective 3. .....................................................................................87
Table 14. Cost to achieve all three DAE Objectives. ........................................................................87

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Recommendations
Recommendation 1. Include mobile broadband as a major element of the planning process. ..........26
Recommendation 2. Ensure that sufficient spectrum for mobile and fixed wireless broadband is
available. ............................................................................................................................................26
Recommendation 3. Follow best practice in regard to spectrum sharing and secondary markets. ...26
Recommendation 4. The migration to small cells and Wi-Fi off-load pose opportunities for greater
network capacity. ...............................................................................................................................27
Recommendation 5. Policymakers should pay attention both to the fixed and the mobile networks.
...........................................................................................................................................................27
Recommendation 6. Include Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB) in the planning process. ...............28
Recommendation 7. Include satellite in the planning process as a “gap filler”. ...............................28
Recommendation 8. Avoid imposing needless roadblocks on infrastructure sharing. ......................42
Recommendation 9. Pay close attention to the proposed EU Regulation to facilitate cross-sector
infrastructure sharing. ........................................................................................................................44
Recommendation 10. Measures are required to promote digital literacy. .........................................45
Recommendation 11. Assess the causes of low consumption of audiovisual content over the
Internet in Italy. .................................................................................................................................52
Recommendation 12. Monitor the decline in fixed network connections and consider whether
anything can be done to reverse it. ....................................................................................................54
Recommendation 13. Make a comprehensive determination of the cost of achieving DAE
Objectives 1, 2, and 3. .......................................................................................................................60
Recommendation 14. Provide sufficient funds to achieve DAE Objectives 1, 2, and 3. ..................60
Recommendation 15. Create a comprehensive National Broadband Plan for Italy. ........................62
Recommendation 16. Engage not only Italian industry, but also the Italian people. ........................62
Recommendation 17. The Italian government should take the lead in defining suitable KPIs for
monitoring progress relative to DAE Objectives. ..............................................................................65
Recommendation 18. The Italian government should assign monitoring responsibilities to a suitably
independent agency, and should provide the necessary resources to enable proper monitoring.......65
Recommendation 19. Invite network operators to provide at least preliminary plans that extend to
2020. ..................................................................................................................................................65
Recommendation 20. Encourage network operators to voluntarily make their deployment plans
public. ................................................................................................................................................66
Recommendation 21. The Italian government should use its funding for meeting the DAE
Objectives to help ensure that they are met. ......................................................................................67

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Executive Summary
Introduction
In November 2013, President Letta asked the Government Commissioner for the implementation of
the Digital Agenda to set up a small team of international experts to review the broadband
investment plans of the Italian telecommunications operators. The objective of this analysis was to
verify whether these plans would allow Italy to achieve the targets of coverage and penetration of
the ultrafast broadband network that the European Union has set for 2020 in the broader context of
its Digital Agenda. The EU broadband infrastructure targets are as follows:


By 2013, 100% of residents should be reachable by basic broadband services;



By 2020, 100% of residents should be reachable by fast broadband services capable of
delivering speeds of at least 30 Mbps; and



By 2020, at least 50% of households should have subscribed to ultrafast broadband services
capable of delivering speeds of at least 100 Mbps.

This review is part of a wider plan launched by President Letta to ensure timely implementation of
all major objectives of the Digital Agenda, a project that the Government considers as one of the
most important structural reforms to simplify bureaucracy, stimulate growth and promote youth
employment.
The international experts who joined the Commissioner are Gerard Pogorel, Professore Emerito di
Economia at Telecom ParisTech; and J. Scott Marcus, a Director at the WIK (Germany), member
of the Scientific Committee of the Florence School of Regulation (Italy), and formerly a senior
official at the FCC (U.S.).
The team has worked in dialogue with all major operators, who have shared the main elements of
their investment plans, including the evolution of the geographical coverage of their networks.
There were also frequent contacts with the institutions who are most directly involved in these
issues: the National Regulatory Agency (NRA) and the Ministry of Economic Development –
Communications. The team has established a constructive dialogue with them, in full respect of
their respective institutional roles. In this context, it should be noted that this report addresses an
industrial policy issue regarding the competitiveness of the country. It is not a review of current
regulation nor an audit of any sort of operators’ plans. Consequently, the analysis and subsequent
deliberations on markets and prices that the NRA is currently conducting in the area of broadband
networks are not the subject of our report.
The team has also benefitted from the support of the Ugo Bordoni Foundation and of two Italian
experts, Vittorio Trecordi and Valerio Zingarelli, members of the Scientific Committee of the
Foundation.
Companies and institutions have supported this analysis with a very open and constructive spirit by
sharing confidential data in the knowledge that, without their specific consent, data, information
and projections will be published only in aggregate form.

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OVERVIEW
There are grounds for cautious optimism regarding the deployment and adoption of ultrafast
broadband in Italy. Network operators in Italy have concrete plans to cover roughly 50% of the
Italian population with fast broadband based on FTTCab/VDSL2 technology between now and
roughly 2017. In contrast to the recent past, these plans are credible, and deployment is
demonstrably moving forward. Given Italy’s favourable characteristics (i.e. a network structure
with short sub-loop lengths), these lines will be able to deliver well in excess of the 30 Mbps
required by the second of the DAE broadband objectives.
There are risks that the plans will not be carried through to completion. There are serious
operational and regulatory challenges. Nonetheless, we consider the plans to be credible overall.
In and of themselves, these plans will not achieve the DAE Objectives.




There are no solid commitments to cover more than 50% of the population with fast or
ultrafast broadband.
The current plans of the network operators do not address 100 Mbps service; with expected
improvements in technology, however, it is likely achievable.
Even if most lines were able to provide 100 Mbps service (and bearing in mind that 50%
penetration requires considerably more than 50% coverage), there are problems with
consumer demand that would need to be addressed in order for the adoption target (DAE
Objective 3) to be achieved.

In the absence of committed, energetic and sustained attention by the Italian government,
DAE goals will not be fully achieved. We therefore urge the Italian government to take
proportionate, appropriate steps to deal with each of the gaps within the authority available to
it, with due respect for the respective competencies and independence of the European Union and
of Italian regulatory and competition authorities. The following would be appropriate:







Comprehensive analysis, planning and monitoring of the investment required and of
investments made to achieve DAE broadband objectives, taking a balanced approach
between fixed, mobile, fixed wireless, and even satellite resources, and also considering not
only supply side factors but also the demand side.
Provision of sufficient additional funding to close coverage gaps, drawing on European
Structural Funds and other sources, based on the results of the analysis, planning and
monitoring function. Attention at regional level is warranted. Compatibility with European
State Aid guidelines is required.
Measures to drive down deployment costs, including initiatives to enhance the radio
spectrum and to enhance the efficiency of spectrum use; and promotion of infrastructure
sharing, to the extent permissible under European State Aid and competition guidelines.
Measures to correct lagging demand for broadband services in Italy, including digital
literacy programmes. Low consumption of audiovisual services is a concern that warrants
detailed analysis.

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MAIN FINDINGS
1 The broadband network in Italy in comparison with other European countries is characterised by
the following main aspects:
-

The coverage of basic fixed broadband networks - typically defined as being capable of
delivering bandwidth of up to 2 megabits per second (Mbps) - is among the most extensive in
Europe: around 98% of the population (gross), even though there are still two million lines
which for technical reasons can not yet deliver a minimally acceptable speed of 2 Mbps. Some
of these households are now partly being served by fixed wireless solutions (according to
AGCOM, there were 270,000 fixed wireless customers as of December 2013) and satellite. This
level of coverage makes Italy de facto compliant with the first EU broadband target (100%
coverage of basic broadband by 2013).

-

The level of coverage of 'next generation' fixed networks or ultrafast broadband is however
among the lowest in Europe. Moreover, the average download speed available for broadband
networks in Italy compares poorly with Italy’s competitors in Europe and the world. It is on
investments in ultrafast broadband networks that team has focussed its work and analyses,
taking as a reference the two objectives of the European Digital Agenda for 2020.

-

In developing its plans, Italy can not rely on the contribution of cable television networks.
Radio technology contributes - and will increasingly contribute - to extending the coverage of
broadband services, but, at least in the medium term, can not be considered as an economically
viable alternative to fixed broadband for large portions of the Italian population.

2 Some encouraging developments about the future development of the broadband network
emerge from our review. In particular:
-

The investment plans examined indicate that over the next 2-3 years, the quality and
performance of the network in fixed broadband - especially in areas with the highest population
density - should improve markedly. By 2016/2017, the coverage of networks that can deliver
30 Mbps and more should be around 50% of fixed lines in Italy (23.4 million), assuming that
(1) network operators carry through on their plans, (2) technology evolves as expected, and (3)
operational and regulatory challenges are promptly addressed and resolved.

-

The plans contain internally consistent data between evolution of coverage, network
architectures, and unit cost assumptions. The plans analysed are all based on FTTCab (Fibre To
The Cabinet) technology, with the exception of Metroweb, a wholesale operator focused on the
provision of FTTH (Fibre To The Home) solutions to other operators that in turn develop and
retail services on Metroweb network.

With FTTCab technology, new fibre optic connections are installed between central office switches
and street cabinets. The connection between street cabinets and users' homes (which is referred to
as the sub-loop) is not upgraded from copper to fibre. It should be stressed that the configuration of
the Italian network is characterised by a limited distance between cabinets and homes, with an
average of 300 metres, and with about 50% of sub-loops less than 200 metres. It is reasonable to
predict that FTTCab could deliver speeds higher than 30 Mbps and closer to 80 Mbps to about
50% of homes (under favourable conditions such as copper pairs of good quality, and proper
management of interference).
-

Continuous technological evolution that is expected in the coming years will allow FTTCab
networks to deliver increasing performance under the same network architecture.

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-

Our analysis also shows a real acceleration of investment and build-out in the last part of 2013.
This marks a welcome change from the recent past, where investment and development plans
have been announced but have typically been implemented only to a very limited degree. It
should also be recognised that the latest statistics published by international observers (e.g.
DAE Scoreboard 2013, OECD broadband statistics update of 9 January 2014) do not yet reflect
the most recent FTTCab developments in Italy.

3 At the same time, our review highlights a number of serious concerns that should be taken into
account when defining industrial policy initiatives in this area.
-

The investment programs that we have analysed – as always in the case of business plans –
cover a period of three years from 2014 to 2016, but there are currently no detailed operational
plans until 2020.

It is, however, clear that based on current market conditions – regulatory rules, level of demand,
investment costs - the plans will not allow Italy to reach the 2020 coverage and adoption targets set
by Europe.
Mobile radio networks will continue to help increase coverage in areas of lower density, but traffic
analysis and the evolution of applications confirm that the increased traffic volumes can best be
managed economically by fixed networks.
-

all operators plan to invest in the same, high-density areas. This creates two problems:
- Large areas of the country are not covered by the development of the network operators' plans.
- In areas covered by multiple operators, the relative economic advantage of FTTCab in
comparison with FTTH is uncertain. In aggregate - for the industry as a whole - the capital
needed to deploy three cabinets is about the same as for one FTTH solution that could then
potentially be shared among the operators. This is particularly true in the absence of forms of
optimisation through cooperation and infrastructure sharing among operators (which would,
however, require the support of the regulator).

-

FTTCab build-out has blocked deployment of other technologies (Fibre to the Home). In
particular, Metroweb was about to start an extensive FTTH roll-out for which it had already
received a first, substantial round of funding (€ 200 million). The plan had been designed
assuming that a new Fibre to the Home “passive” infrastructure would have been made
available to all service providers for the delivery of ultrafast broadband services in ultrawideband. The decision of more operators to deploy their FTTCab networks in the same areas
has significantly reduced the prospect of financial return, bringing – at least for now –
Metroweb FTTH plans to a halt.

-

All network operators are heavily dependent on the plans of the incumbent fixed network
operator. This is true to some degree in all European Member States; however, the problem is
exacerbated in Italy by a lack of effective alternatives, notably cable. This means that achieving
DAE Objectives depends very heavily on the fixed telecommunications network, more so than
in most Member States.

-

Regulatory uncertainties remain among operators when trying to share infrastructure, in
particular installing equipment in the same street cabinet. AGCOM has recently approved the
requirement for the incumbent to accommodate equipment of other operators. But issues
remain: on the one hand it is a fact that space is limited (in general and especially in cabinets
where a) the incumbent has already installed its FTTCab electronics, and b) that were not
designed to house multi-operator sets); on the other hand, given the history of competitive

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behaviour, we can not exclude conflicts and delays related to the resolution of this issue.
Moreover, where the sharing of cabinets is not feasible, it will be necessary to build new
cabinets with due regard for environmental impacts and the need for authorisations whose cost
and time of release are functions of the policies of individual municipalities.
-

It must be stressed that the ability to leverage the full potential of this architecture with
solutions such as vectoring requires forms of structured (but as yet to be defined) coordination
among operators. This is to counter the effect of interference among twisted pairs that are
located in the same cable, but used by different operators with technologies of different
generations. Furthermore, the possibility to reach 100 Mbps through FTTCab networks is likely
to require the adoption of G.fast, a technology that is still in its infancy and that warrants further
testing and development.

-

Finally, it might prove premature to assume that technologies that aim at ‘squeezing’ more and
more capabilities out of copper might be adequate substitute of fibre in the long term and
capable to deliver the type of and quality of bandwidth that new services will require - not just
in terms of speed but more broadly defined in terms of stability, service availability, and
latency.

4 Although the review has primarily focused on supply side of the industry, the team has taken
into consideration some aspects of demand as well, because the goals set by the EU depend not
only on network coverage, but also on the percentage of the population connected to ultrafast
networks. As is well known, Italy is among the European Member States with lowest
penetration of ultrafast broadband; nonetheless, there are elements that could contribute to a
more widespread and sustained demand for ultrafast connections in the years ahead.
-

In many countries, demand for audiovisual services has been an important factor in the
development of broadband; moreover, cable television networks have acted as effective
competitive stimulus for investments by telecom operators. Due to the unique structure of its
television sector, Italy has not benefitted from these developments.

-

Recently, new video services over the Internet – such as catch up television – have been
launched in Italy (such as Infinity, Sky River, RAI). Consumers access content through devices
such as tablets and interactive SmartTV that unlike the PC do not require high levels of digital
literacy. The availability of high quality content online together with the increasing popularity
of devices connected to the Internet will drive new, stronger demand for high-speed
connections.

-

The implementation of the broader Digital Agenda should further contribute to growth, and
should increase the demand for connectivity through a growing range of public services that
will be made available online.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The team has identified a number of possible areas of intervention that the Government should
consider to support the development of the network.
Due to the focus of the review, most of them deal with initiatives that the Government should
consider to stimulate the supply side. We also highlight however the importance of initiatives in the
area of demand to support the growth in adoption of ultrafast broadband.
1 Establish a structured process to monitor the implementation of operators’ plans

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The Government should encourage operators to publish the main elements of their investment plans
indicating the areas in which over time they plan to offer high-speed connections.
At the same time, the government should establish a structured monitoring process where every six
months - if not quarterly - operators communicate to AGCOM regular updates on the investments
made in the period and the evolution of geographical coverage of their ultrafast broadband
networks.
In addition to keeping track of fixed broadband developments, the process should also monitor:
-

The deployment of LTE mobile radio and fixed wireless Broadband networks

-

Technological developments that characterize the different fixed and mobile network
architectures.

Such an initiative would have the following positive aspects:
-

It would mark a sharp change from the past. For the first time, an industrial policy process
directly driven by the Prime Minister’s Office would provide a comprehensive and public
visibility into the progress of broadband networks. The process would build on other similar,
but less comprehensive activities that are carried out by either AGCOM (for regulatory
purposes) or the Ministry of Economic Development (to allocate funds/ incentives).

-

It would promptly highlight differences between what was planned and what was achieved.

-

It would build an information base that could justify more direct forms of intervention if the
announced plans are not being realised as expected or projected.

-

such a “public” and highly visible process would also be an incentive for those involved in the
development of digital services - commercial and public administration – that are essential to
stimulate the adoption of ultrafast broadband connections.

2 Develop a national broadband plan for market failure areas and actively apply for
European structural funds to finance it
The government has already funded in recent years the development of the broadband network in
areas of market failure.
The new European structural funds for the period 2014-20 provide an opportunity to develop and
launch a plan focused on the development of ultra-fast networks.
The MISE has confirmed its commitment to this approach, and the government should ensure close
coordination between the regions, the Ministry of Social Cohesion, and MISE to formulate a
national plan to cover areas that are not reached by the plans of the operators.
The strategic nature of the broadband infrastructure could also justify a more direct involvement of
the Prime Minister’s Office together with MISE and the Regions, and the creation of a dedicated
unit within the structures of coordination and governance of the Digital Agenda.
Central to the plan and the process will be the development of a detailed cost model to define the
funds needed to reach full coverage.
Estimates of cost vary hugely, and further detailed work is required to firm them up based on very
specific design and technology assumptions.
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3. Promote the sharing of investments and / or network infrastructure in order to maximize
their effectiveness and to accelerate achieving geographic coverage.
Italy is subject to a great many challenges in putting capital effectively to work. Investment tends to
be subject to deadlock, and duplication of investment is widespread.
This has many manifestations, and many opportunities for improvement:





The tendency of all operators to invest in covering the same 50% of the population;
VDSL2-specific challenges, including both street cabinet sharing, and coordination of lines
where vectoring is deployed;
Facilities sharing in the mobile network;
Opportunities to use infrastructure from other network industries (e.g. electricity, water).

Some of these are challenges for the industry, while others are challenges for the National
Regulatory Authority (NRA).
In each case, the status quo is not unambiguously bad. Much of the duplication of infrastructure
tends to be positive for infrastructure-based competition, at the same time that it is negative for
investment.
Italy may wish to strike a different balance (with due respect for European State Aid and
competition rules) between promoting investment and promoting competition than some other
Member States. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that competition is often the most
important spur to investment in fast and ultrafast broadband.
No single solution is likely to magically unlock investment, but a combination of carefully crafted
initiatives might help to unlock investment that to date has often been stalled. A more muscular
policy on the part of the Italian government might well be called for, especially in the event that
investment were to stall once again.

4. Ensure that sufficient spectrum for mobile and fixed wireless broadband is available.
In the short to medium term, radio cannot be regarded as an economically viable substitute to fixed
broadband in high density areas; however, mobile and fixed wireless networks should be taken into
account when developing coverage plans for low density areas.
Considering, however, that Italy has no cable television networks, radio ends being the only
available alternative infrastructure to fixed telecommunication networks. Technology
developments and growing usage will further strengthen the role of radio.
For this reason, the opportunity to allocate further spectrum to mobile and fixed wireless broadband
that derives from international reallocation should be actively pursued.
Spectrum allocation policy should ensure that sufficient spectrum is available for mobile and fixed
wireless broadband services. Government should take the opportunity of international and
European processes that are re-purposing frequencies among various applications (including
possible future use of the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband) to adopt, in consultation with
stakeholders, best practice and to ensure that Italy can fully exploit wireless technology advances in
the evolution of its digital infrastructures.
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5 Promote the demand for high-bandwidth digital
Even though, as stated above, the focus of our work had been on investment plans and supply side
of broadband development, it is in our view extremely important the Government continues to
pursue initiatives aimed at promoting adoption of broadband by citizens.
In light of (1) the somewhat lower-than-average tendency for Italians who possess a computer to
also have an Internet connection at home, together with (2) the fact that Italy has more elderly
citizens than most Member States (who are less likely to subscribe to Internet services), combined
again with (3) a low propensity to consumer online audiovisual services, measures to promote
digital literacy could have particularly great impact in Italy.
These should include
-

The continued implementation of the broader Digital Agenda to broaden the quantity, quality
and ease of use of Public Services online.

-

digital literacy initiatives such as the one RAI is planning as part of its public service
broadcaster

-

- assessment of the root causes and potential remedies for Italy’s low consumption of
audiovisual content over broadband

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1. Introduction
President Letta has identified the implementation of the Digital Agenda as one of the key elements
of his Government’s program. Growth and new jobs, particularly for the youngsters, are a key
government’s priority and the Digital Agenda is regarded as an essential initiative to deliver this
objective, accelerate and strengthen economic recovery and enhance Italy’s competitiveness.
In this context, in June 2013, President Letta appointed a Government Commissioner to expedite the
implementation of Digital Agenda Projects through the identification of key priorities, the adoption
of clearer governance processes, the definition of a stronger role for the Italian Digital Agency and a
closer monitoring of how the Italian Digital Agenda was progressing against the EU targets.
In the first phase of work, the activity of the Commissioner has been primarily focused on main egovernment projects; it has led to the definition of three key priorities, to the review of the Italian
Digital Agency’s Charter and to the establishment of a tighter project management process.
Encouraging progress has been made on all fronts and of the three priority projects two have
entered an execution phase (E-Invoice and ANPR) whilst for the third (Digital Identity) a public
consultation has been completed and an implementation decree should be signed by Q1 2014.
More recently, also following the EU Council of last October where the heads of EU Governments
reviewed progress of the European Digital Agenda, President Letta has broaden the focus of the
work to include a review of the broadband infrastructure.
Italy as all other EU Member States considers broadband networks as a critical infrastructure for
economic growth, competitiveness of businesses and social inclusion of citizens – and a prerequisite
to deliver e-government services to its citizens. As such no Digital Agenda implementation can be
assured without a parallel monitoring of how broadband infrastructure will evolve.
Against this background, President Letta asked the Commissioner to select two international
telecommunications policy experts and to perform a review of broadband with a particular focus on
Italy’s position versus the quality and coverage targets that the EU has set as part of the Digital
Agenda for 2020. The international experts who joined the Commissioner are Gerard Pogorel,
Professore Emerito di Economia at Telecom ParisTech; and J. Scott Marcus, a Director at the
WIK (Germany), member of the Scientific Committee of the Florence School of Regulation (Italy),
and formerly a senior official at the FCC (U.S.).
This document summarises the findings of the work.

1.1. The nature of the mandate
In setting the vision for the Digital Agenda, the European Union has indicated specific targets for
broadband infrastructures. In each of the Member States,




delivering download speeds of at least 30 Mbps; and
capable of delivering download speeds of at least 100 Mbps.

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It is against these targets that President Letta asked the team of experts to perform a review of the
broadband infrastructure with a specific focus on three questions:




What are the investment and network development plans of the main operators?
Given the current status of the Italian broadband infrastructure, what coverage and quality
are these plans likely to deliver in the coming years?
Is the basic, fast and ultrafast broadband coverage evolution that will be delivered by
current plans consistent with the 2020 EU targets?

The questions define the nature of our mandate: not a regulatory review, nor a check on
commitments that operators have in the context of their license, but an important “module” of the
Digital Agenda’s activity aimed at assessing the trajectory of the broadband infrastructure evolution
against the targets that the EU has set for its Member States.

1.2. Organisation, methodology and description of the
process
The status and evolution of broadband infrastructure is currently monitored (albeit with various
degrees of detail and with varying objectives) by a number of public bodies and institutions
including:






Ministry of Economic Development - Communications that on a yearly basis reviews
operators’ network development plans to identify geographic areas that are unlikely to get
covered without some form of public funding.
AGCOM that collects and monitors (among other info) data on service quality and coverage.
Fondazione Ugo Bordoni (part of the Ministry) that performs quality measures on fixed
and mobile networks.
Organo di Vigilanza that monitors the quality of service delivered by the incumbent
operator to its wholesale customers.

We have received valuable support from the Ministry, AGCOM and their experts and we would
like to thank them for their cooperation. The Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, under the mandate of the
Ministry of Economic Development – Communications, contributed the technical expertise of their
staff and of two members of their Scientific Committee: Vittorio Trecordi and Valerio Zingarelli.
Many other organisations have supported our efforts, including the European Investment Bank
(EIB). We were also able to access (within the limits of confidentiality to which each of these
institutions must conform) relevant information and data for our analysis.
Given the forward-looking nature of the questions that we had to address, we have integrated the
information available from institutional sources with direct access to main operators who, through a
series of sessions, have shared data on a voluntary (but confidential) basis on their investment and
network plans. Companies and institutions have collaborated in this analysis with a very open and
constructive spirit.

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A comprehensive list of meetings and interviews appears in Annex 1 at the end of this report.
Briefly, we have worked with the following operators (in alphabetical order):







Fastweb
Metroweb
Telecom Italia
3
Vodafone
Wind

1.3. Structure of this document
Key Findings appear at the beginning of each chapter. They are collected for convenience in
Section 8.1 in the concluding chapter of this report. Similarly, recommendations appear throughout
the text at the point at which they are relevant and substantiated, but they are collected and grouped
for convenience in Section 8.2 in the concluding chapter of this report.
This report is comprised of an Executive Summary and Introduction. Next comes a discussion of
the current situation (Chapter 2), followed by an explanation of alternatives to the fixed
telecommunications network in Italy (Chapter 3). We then discuss promising developments and
opportunities (Chapter 4), followed by worrisome developments and challenges (Chapter 5). We
then present our assessment of prospects for broadband deployment and adoption, together with a
very rough estimate of likely costs of achieving DAE Objectives going forward (Chapter 6). We
then offer views on the measures the Italian government should take to ensure that DAE Objectives
are met (including a discussion Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how they should be
monitored in the future) (Chapter 7), and a summary of key findings and recommendations
(Chapter 8). Finally, an Annex lists the firms that we met with or interviewed.
We also include three annexes. The first lists our interviewees. The second provides background on
variants of fibre-based network access technologies. The third annex provides a detailed review of
our cost estimation.

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2. Where does Italy stand today in achieving DAE goals?

Key Findings


Fixed network basic broadband coverage in Italy is broadly in line with European targets for
2013, both in absolute terms and also in comparison with other EU Member States.
By contrast, coverage of fast broadband (30 Mbps or more) in Italy is the worst among the
Member States of the EU. The total absence of cable is a major contributor to this deficit.
Broadband penetration is also a concern. Even though coverage is high, adoption is low.
Indeed, among its peer group of Western European Member States, Italy ranks last.
The nominal speed of the access link is only one measure of the speed of the network. The
speed of the core network and aggregation network also impact total throughput. In terms of
total throughput, Italy ranks badly in comparison with European and global competitors.





As previously noted, the Digital Agenda for Europe calls upon the Member States to achieve
ambitious goals in terms of both deployment and adoption of basic broadband and fast broadband
(Next Generation Access (NGA)):




delivering (download) speeds of at least 30 Mbps; and
capable of delivering download speed of at least 100 Mbps.

Many have noted that there is substantial ambiguity in these goals. Do they refer to nominal speeds,
or actual speed delivered? Are they required in both directions, or only in the more common
(download) direction? Must they be achieved in each Member State, or only in Europe as a whole?
These differences may seem subtle, but they have large implications for deployment costs. Unless
otherwise noted, we assume in this report that DAE speed requirements refer to the nominal or
advertised speed in the downstream direction, and we assume that Italy must achieve them.
In understanding fixed network usage characteristics, it is important to distinguish between
coverage (the number of households that could be served) and penetration (the fraction of
households that actually take up the service. The first and second DAE Objectives refer only to
coverage. The third refers explicitly only to penetration; however, it is clear that sufficient
penetration cannot be reached unless there is sufficient deployment and corresponding coverage.
In the sections that follow, we consider Italy’s basic broadband coverage, fast broadband coverage,
broadband penetration, and the effective speed actually delivered. In terms of basic broadband
coverage, Italy is doing reasonably well. In terms of every other measure, there are grounds for
concern.

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2.1. Basic broadband coverage
Fixed network basic broadband coverage in Italy is quite good, both in absolute terms and also in
comparison with other Member States of the EU. As shown in Figure 1, substantially all of Italy
has basic broadband coverage of 95% or more. Only 12.4% of the population is considered to be
rural. Fixed basic broadband coverage is estimated to be 98.4%.1
Figure 1. Basic broadband coverage in Italy (end of 2012).

Source: Point Topic (2013), Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012.

1

Point Topic (2013), Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012.

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2.2. Fast and ultra-fast broadband coverage
By contrast, coverage of fast broadband (30 Mbps or more) in Italy is the worst among the Member
States of the EU, as is depicted in Figure 2 and Figure 3. The total absence of cable is a major
contributor to this deficit.
Figure 2. Fast broadband (more than 30 Mbps) coverage in Italy (end of 2012).

Source: Point Topic (2013), Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012.

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Figure 3. Fast broadband coverage by Member State (end of 2012).

Source: Point Topic (2013), Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012.2

2

See European Commission (2013), Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2013, Chapter 2, 12 June, SWD(2013) 217 final.

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2.3. Penetration
Broadband penetration provides cause for further concern. Even though coverage is high, adoption
is low. Indeed, Italy ranks fifth worst among EU Member States; however, among its peer group of
Western European Member States, it ranks last. Only Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia
score worse.
Figure 4. Fixed broadband penetration (January 2013).

Source: Communications Committee3

3

See European Commission (2013), Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2013, Chapter 2, 12 June, SWD(2013) 217 final.

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2.4. Broadband speed delivered and quality of service
As noted earlier in this chapter, the nominal speed of the access link is only one measure of the
speed of the network. The speed of the core network and aggregation network also impact total
throughput. By this measure, Italy ranks rather badly in comparison with European and global
competitors.
Figure 5 denotes the percentage of inhabitants served by broadband with an effective, measured
speed (as computed by the firm Akamai) of less than 4 Mbps, 4 to 10 Mbps, or greater than
10 Mbps. Broadband in Italy is, to a disproportionate extent, in the slowest category. Very little of
the deployed broadband actually achieves even as much as 10 Mbps.
Figure 5. Percentage of inhabitants served by broadband of a given effective speed
(2012).
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants
40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

Ja
< 4 mbps

es
St
at

om
U

ni

U

ni

te
d

te
d

Ki

ng
d

pa
n

Ko
re
a

> 4 mbps / < 10 mbps

n
Sp
ai

G

er
m
an
y

ce
Fr
an

It a
ly

0

> 10 mbps

Source: OECD Communications Outlook

4

In recent years, the gap between Italy and other countries in terms of available download speed has
widened.5 The situation appears to be getting worse, not better.

4

5

OECD (2013), OECD Communications Outlook 2013, OECD Publishing. doi: 10.1787/comms_outlook-2013-en.
Based on OECD subscription data (June 2012) merged with Akamai’s actual speed data (2nd quarter, 2012).
Maurizio Dècina (2013), La qualità dell’accesso ad Internet in Italia: realtà e prospettive, available at:
https://www.misurainternet.it/documenti/presentazioni/Decina.pdf.

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3. Alternatives to the fixed telecommunications network

Key Findings
 Cable television service is non-existent in Italy.
 Mobile services based on forms of LTE are unlikely to be adequate, in our judgment, to serve
as a full substitute in the period 2014-2020 for 100 Mbps fixed broadband service, nor to serve
as a full substitute for fixed broadband services at 30 Mbps in areas of moderate to high
population density. Mobile service can and will serve as a substitute for 30 Mbps broadband
in areas of low density.
 Fixed wireless service is small today in terms of number of subscribers, but covers a
substantial fraction of the Italian territory. Policymakers should not ignore it.
 Satellite should be considered as a substitute service only for a very small percentage of users
who cannot practically be reached in any other way. The latency characteristics that are
inherent in geosynchronous satellites are unavoidable, and (together with limitations in
bandwidth capacity) render the service unattractive where alternatives are available.

Achievement of DAE Objectives in Italy necessarily will depend heavily on the fixed
telecommunications network. Other technologies, notably mobile broadband and Fixed Wireless
Broadband, generally serve as economic complements or partial substitutes, but are unlikely to
fully substitute for the fixed telecommunications network over the period 2014-2020.






Cable television service is non-existent in Italy.
Mobile services based on forms of LTE are unlikely to be adequate, in our judgment, to
serve as a full substitute in the period 2014-2020 for 100 Mbps fixed broadband service, nor
to serve as a full substitute for fixed broadband services at 30 Mbps in areas of moderate to
high population density. Mobile service can and will serve as a substitute for 30 Mbps
broadband in areas of low density.
Fixed wireless service is small today in terms of number of subscribers, but covers a
substantial fraction of the Italian territory. Policymakers should not ignore it.
Satellite should be considered as a substitute service only for a very small percentage of
users who cannot practically be reached in any other way. The latency characteristics that
are inherent in geosynchronous satellites are unavoidable, and (together with limitations in
bandwidth capacity) render the service unattractive where alternatives are available.

3.1. Cable
Italy is nearly unique among European Member States in having no cable television coverage
whatsoever.6 This has numerous implications for the prospects for fast and ultrafast broadband,
none of them positive.


6

In the rest of Europe, cable generally provides the vast majority of fast and ultrafast
broadband service today. In Italy, it will be necessary to meet DAE objectives solely on the
strength of the telecommunications network.7

Only Greece is comparably devoid of cable television.

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


The competitive spur that cable provides to the telecommunications incumbent is
conspicuous by its absence in Italy.
The absence of cable further complicates an already challenging media environment in Italy.
Audiovisual content, which represents a key demand driver in most EU Member States, is
largely unavailable in the Italian language to alternative distributors (e.g. Over-the-Top
(OTT) players) in Italy.

We make no specific recommendations in regard to cable. That ship has sailed.

3.2. Mobile services
The capabilities of mobile networks (and also of fixed wireless, as we explain in Section 3.3) have
grown substantially in recent years. Usage of mobile networks has grown correspondingly.
Mobile wireless broadband technology is continuously improving its capacity thanks to greater
spectral efficiency, denser cell packaging (using smaller cells), evolved MIMO antenna technology,
increased backhauling capacity, dynamic frequency usage, and carrier aggregation.
Italian Telecom mobile operators benefit from these improvements. They are currently rolling out
4G LTE mobile cellular networks and services that offer greater downstream and upstream data
rates than those that were possible with previous HSPA technologies. The peak data rate available
in an LTE cell is on the order of 10-100 Mbps downstream, depending on the condition of the radio
link (i.e. signal to noise ratio) and on the sharing of available radio capacity among active users.
The highest theoretical peak data rate on the transport channel is 75 Mbps on the uplink, while on
the downlink the rate can theoretically reach a peak of 300 Mbps (thanks to spatial multiplexing). It
is rare, however, for the planning of an LTE radio system to target delivery of 30 Mbps
downstream per cellular user (and even more rare to target 100 Mbps) because it would be difficult
to achieve a return on investments.
LTE-Advanced, currently under development by market players and standard organizations, is
expected to increase access speeds in various ways. LTE-Advanced aims at achieving an increased
peak data rate (3 Gbps downlink and 1.5 Gbps uplink), higher spectral efficiency (from a
maximum of 16 bits/s/Hz in R8 to 30 bits/s/Hz in R10), an increased number of simultaneously
active subscribers, improved performance at cell edges (e.g. for 2x2 MIMO downlink at least 2.40
bits/s/Hz/cell, carrier aggregation, and intra-site and inter-site Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP)
transmission/reception .
The amount of data carried over mobile networks has dramatically increased in the last few years,
with multimedia content being an important component of the growth. This increased use of
multimedia content, such as real time broadcast content, high definition audio/video streaming,
podcasts, file casts, on-line gaming, social networking and downloading of applications, coupled
with a trend towards immediate and on-the-move use of personalised video-based content, imply a
need for network capacity that is only likely to increase in future years.
Radio spectrum is key to the capacity of both mobile and fixed wireless networks, but lack of radio
spectrum is frequently a bottleneck to network capacity. For that reason, it is crucial that spectrum
policy support the necessary growth of mobile networks (and also of fixed wireless networks).

7

No other infrastructure seems to be up to the task.

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Mobile in Italy, including mobile broadband, is widely used. Substantial deployment of LTE and
LTE Advanced technologies can reasonably be expected; nonetheless, the impact of these
technologies relative to meeting the DAE Objectives is less than one might think, for several
reasons:







The speeds that are often quoted in the press usually reflect the greatest speed that the
technology could ever achieve, assuming only a single user close to the transmission mast
and with no contention within the cell. Effective throughput tends to be much less, except in
areas where population density is low.
In the period 2014-2020, mobile services will be effective and important in achieving 30
Mbps broadband service in low density areas in Italy (i.e. rural areas as defined in this
report), but are not expected to be effective in achieving 100 Mbps service.
In urban and suburban areas, mobile service is more likely to be an economic complement
used in addition to fixed broadband rather than an economic substitute for fixed.
Recent work shows that most data from nominally mobile devices is in practice already sent
over private Wi-Fi from home or work.8 This implies once again that the mobile network
primarily serves as a complement to fixed broadband, rather than a substitute.

All of this notwithstanding, mobile provides a crucial substitute for the fixed network in low
density areas, and a valuable complement in high density areas. It provides a modest competitive
spur to fixed network deployment. In recent work, we have recommended that an additional DAE
Objective specifically geared to mobility be added.
The Government should develop Italy’s international strategy (in consultation with stakeholders)
on the use of radio spectrum in order to make its voice heard at European level and global level.
Spectrum allocation is internationally coordinated to a significant degree in order to avoid crossborder interference. A number of frequency bands have been identified that could potentially be
progressively released for wireless broadband, either for exclusive use of for some form of shared
use. There has been considerable interest in re-purposing9 the 700 MHz band (which is now used
for television broadcasting services) so as to enable its use for mobile broadband services. This
would add another band with excellent coverage and building penetration properties to the
800 MHz band that will be available from 2013 for mobile services. The change in use of the
700 MHz band was already anticipated in the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference
(WRC) decision to reallocate the 700 MHz band to include mobile services (which include mobile
broadband services) immediately following the 2015 WRC; this means, however, that the decision
is in effect not yet finalised. For that matter, there has been growing interest over the past year or
two in sharing this band between broadband and broadcast use, or perhaps between these uses and
public safety. For this band and for others, Italy should prepare to develop its position so as to
provide input to the European Commission, especially in the context of the multi-annual Radio
Spectrum Policy Programme (RSPP),10 and in response to the questions posed in the context of
preparations for the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC -15).
The 700 MHz band has been of particular interest, but there are any number of bands that could
potentially be used to expand the amount of radio spectrum available for mobile, fixed, and Wi-Fi
broadband services.

8

9
10

Marcus, J.S., Burns, J. (2013), Impact of traffic off-loading and related technological trends on the demand for
wireless broadband spectrum; study for the European Commission.
The term of art is “re-farming”.
European Union (2012), Decision No 243/2012/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March
2012 establishing a multiannual radio spectrum policy programme.

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Table 1. Spectrum bands that might be of interest for wireless services.

Timeline

Frequency band

Current priorities

1452-1492 MHz
(UHF-L Band)
700 MHz

Medium term
(2015-2020)

2.3-2.4 GHz
3.6 – 3.8 GHz
3.8 – 4.2 GHz

Possible release
in the long run
(post 2020)

1350 -1518 MHz
(1.5 GHz Band)
5350-5925 MHz
(5 GHz Band)

Remarks
The band is harmonised for Supplemental Downlink (network-user
communications).
Currently, the band is not used in Italy.
Subject to preliminary provisions set by the European Radio Spectrum
Policy Programme (RSPP).
Heavily used in Italy for digital terrestrial broadcasting.
The European framework for the harmonised use of this band is under
completion.
Currently, the band is marginally used for incumbent services in Italy.
This band is already harmonised for Electronic Communications
Services in Europe.
Potentially attractive for a very large amount of bandwidth, suitable
for dense high-capacity networks.
Severe constraints, due to coexistence issues with incumbent users,
are still to be solved.
Currently employed mainly for military and scientific uses.
Possible release of sub-portions.
Likely to become increasingly important for Wi-Fi evolutions.
Severe constraints, due to coexistence issues with incumbent users,
are still to be solved.

Source: Fondazione Ugo Bordoni
For all of these reasons, it is important to ensure that no unnecessary impediments stand in the way
of the use of mobile services to provide consumer broadband. We have not examined spectrum
management practices in Italy as part of this study, but would nonetheless venture the following
recommendations as representing European best practice.
Recommendation 1. Include mobile broadband as a major element of the planning
process.
Mobile broadband should play a role nearly equivalent to that of fixed in the planning process
for meeting DAE Objectives. Mobile is a substitute for fixed in low density areas; a mobile
complement to fixed in areas of greater density; and serves as a competitive spur to fixed
network deployment.

Recommendation 2. Ensure that sufficient spectrum for mobile and fixed wireless
broadband is available.
Spectrum allocation policy should ensure that sufficient spectrum is available for mobile and
fixed wireless broadband services. Government should take the opportunity of international
and European processes that are re-purposing frequencies among various applications
(including possible future use of the 700 MHz band for mobile broadband) to adopt, in
consultation with stakeholders, best practice and to ensure that Italy can fully exploit wireless
technology advances in the evolution of its digital infrastructures.

Recommendation 3. Follow best practice in regard to spectrum sharing and
secondary markets.
Continuing attention is called for to ensure that spectrum secondary markets (e.g. spectrum
trading) are effective, and that opportunities for sharing and collective use are fully exploited.

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Recommendation 4. The migration to small
opportunities for greater network capacity.

cells

and

Wi-Fi

off-load

pose

The evolution of the network toward smaller cells with more limited coverage potentially offers
greater spectrum re-use, and thus substantially greater effective capacity. This trend of
evolution within the macro-cellular is linked to the tendency toward spectrum off-load both to
small cells and to Wi-Fi.

Recommendation 5. Policymakers should pay attention both to the fixed and the
mobile networks.
For small cells and large, fixed back-haul capacity is crucial. Clearing away impediments to
fixed network deployment is thus crucial to the mobile network as well. The evolution of fixed
and mobile networks are intertwined, implying that a comprehensive approach is warranted in
order to pay due attention to both.

3.3. Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB)
The Point Topic study of broadband coverage on behalf of the European Commission11 shows Italy
as benefitting from 45% coverage by Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB). This is substantial. In the
European discussion, FWB services do not always receive the attention that they deserve.
In Italy, three main players offer Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB) services. Two of them transmit
on 3.4-3.6 GHz licensed frequencies, while the third uses unlicensed spectrum in the bands 3.5, 3.7
and 5.4 GHz. Each major player serves about 100.000 customers, while a number of small players
are focused on offering focused on offering local to specific territories.
According to the latest 3Q2013 data available from AGCOM, there are 270,000 FWB customers.
This is small relative to the total number of households in Italy, but not much different from the
actual number of fibre customers in the same period (290,000). The number of customers is
expected to increase, because FWB is playing a central role in the latest and ongoing MiSe tenders
for basic broadband digital divide.
FWB technology has advantages of its own, and is improving over time, just as mobile broadband
is improving. Italian FWB providers offer top speeds of up to 25 Mbps today, and plan to evolve to
50 Mbps and more by 2015.




FWB radio planning can be more effective and more predictable than with mobile wireless
technology. The performance provided to active customers can be better than with mobile
because the radio link is not dependent on the mobility of terminal equipment.
Advances in radio technology have steadily increased the modulation efficiency of usage of
spectrum (from about 1 bit/s/Hz for HyperLAN, to around 2 bit/s/Hz for 802.16/Wimax,
and to 4 to 8 bit/s/Hz in emerging radio technologies exploiting efficient modulation and
evolved MIMO techniques).

FWB is definitely relevant to DAE Objective 1 (basic broadband coverage), and probably also DAE
Objective 2 (30 Mbps coverage) over the 2014-2020 time frame. Whether it is suitable to DAE
Objective 3 (50% adoption of 100 Mbps service) during the period 2014-2020 remains to be seen.
11

Point Topic (2013), Broadband Coverage in Europe in 2012.

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We have not made any detailed recommendations about FWB, but it is clear that it should be
included in the monitoring programme that we call for in Chapter 7.
Recommendation 6. Include Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB) in the planning
process.
Fixed Wireless Broadband (FWB) should be included within the scope of planning for the
achievement of DAE Objectives.

3.4. Satellite
Satellite appears likely to play only a minimal role in meeting DAE Objectives, but for the most
remote areas (islands, mountainous terrain) it is likely to be the only practical option.
The orbital altitude for a geosynchronous satellite is fixed, and inherently leads to delay of some
270 milliseconds (about a quarter of a second). The speed of light is a law of nature that is not
amenable to technological improvement. This inherent delay limits the desirability and suitability
of satellite services. The capacity of satellite communications, which must be shared among all
users, is substantial but nonetheless would likely pose constraints if widespread use were attempted.
Recommendation 7. Include satellite in the planning process as a “gap filler”.
Satellite should be included as a “gap filler” within the scope of planning for the achievement
of DAE Objectives. For certain remote areas, use of satellite is indispensable.

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4. Promising developments and opportunities

Key Findings
 Key network operators, notably including Telecom Italia and Fastweb, have credible and
realistic deployment plans, and are deploying to these plans. Vodafone has made credible
commitments to invest. Italy is fortunate to have fixed network competitors that are willing
and able to invest in fast broadband infrastructure.
 Italy represents an ideal case for a relatively inexpensive form of fast broadband, namely
FTTCab/VDSL2 due to the relatively short length of copper sub-loops.
 Technological advances to VDSL are likely to further enhance FTTCab capabilities.
 It is likely that it will eventually be necessary to eventually build out solutions that are even
more capable than FTTCab/VDSL2; however, that does not necessarily mean that it is unwise
to deploy FTTCab/VDSL2 today. If the investment to upgrade is deferred substantially, then
the ability to apply the capital to other productive uses in the interim has substantial value to
Italy; moreover, deployment costs are likely to be lower in the future than they are at present.
It is likely that more than one technology will be present in Italy in any case.
 RAI, Mediaset, and SKY have all announced and released new IP-based platforms for catchup television on the Internet. Increased availability of high quality audiovisual content could
help drive demand for fast broadband going forward.

There are a number of possible grounds for cautious optimism in Italy. Key among these, in our
view, are:




Key network operators, notably including Telecom Italia and Fastweb, have credible and
realistic deployment plans.12 These are often coupled (in contrast with past experience) with
actual deployments. Vodafone also recently committed to invest in a major three-year
program for fixed ultrafast broadband infrastructure roll-out starting in 2014.
Italy represents an ideal case for a relatively inexpensive form of fast broadband, namely
FTTCab/VDSL2.

4.1. Deployment plans of the network operators
The plans of the network operators are, as far as they go, reasonably plausible and credible;
however, as we explain in Chapter 5, numerous gaps, interdependencies, and uncertainties in
planning have emerged. The plans of all network operators tend to focus on areas of greatest
population density while neglecting area of low density, thus neglecting large portions of the
national territory. There are thus large gaps that will presumably need to be addressed through
public funding. Nonetheless, Italy is fortunate to have fixed network competitors that are willing
and able to invest in fast broadband infrastructure. Not every EU Member State has this.

12

Much of this deployment has taken place within the past six months, and consequently is not yet fully captured in
the statistics provided by the European Union, the OECD and the ITU.

30 January 2014

Page 29


This section provides a brief summary of their plans, based on our interviews. In the interest of
protecting commercially sensitive information of the network operators, this report refrains from
presenting more detailed findings.








Telecom Italia presented a three year basic plan (2013-15) based on FTTCab roll-out based
on their own business drivers. The plan has been extended to 2016, taking into account also
the funding and coverage targets required by MiSe tenders. These plans should provide
coverage to some 50% of Italian households by 2016 or so, and potentially to more than 80%
of the Italian population by the end of the decade (including MiSE tenders funding
contribution). Telecom Italia plans to spend € 1.7 billion in the period 2014-2016 for its
ultrabroadband plan on the fixed network (€ 1.8 billion including investments for OSS).
AGCOM confirms that Telecom Italia has achieved its planned roll-out programs presented
in the last two years. Moreover, quality indicators of the TI copper network have
progressively improved due to preventive measures to counter infrastructure saturation (one
of the main causes of KO to OLOs on LLU).
Fastweb is executing its two year investment plan (2013-14) based on FTTC architecture as
announced at the end of 2012. The final coverage target is 3.5 million lines by 2014 in
addition to the two million FTTH lines already covered mainly across seven large Italian
cities (Milano, Genova Torino, Roma, Bologna, Napoli, Bari). The roll-out is based fully on
a private investment of € 400 million, and benefits from a coordination agreement with
Telecom Italia for joint operational planning and deployment to ensure that infrastructure
investment can be shared efficiently where possible. The final coverage will be around 20%
of the total households by 2014. Fastweb is on track with its implementation plan, half way
through its target coverage and started offering services based on FTTC in 12 cities with
speeds up to 100 Mbps. Fastweb has not announced its investment plans beyond 2014,
which are highly dependent on the regulatory conditions around sub-loop unbundling;
however, it indicated that to reach 50% total households coverage by 2018, it would require
an additional € 1.6 billion for a deployment, which would take around four years.
Metroweb is a neutral passive infrastructure operator. Its mission is to deploy fibre optics
access networks (ducts and cables) in the major metro areas. Fastweb is Metroweb’s main
customer, but Metroweb also serves Telecom Italia, Wind, Vodafone and other service
providers. In Milano, thanks to the Metroweb fibre network, Fastweb serves about 200,000
customers through FTTH technology since the early 2000s. Further deployments are in
progress.
In March 2012, Metroweb proposed a € 4.5 billion investment plan to provide 5.6 million
FTTH lines in 30 major cities. At present, this plan has been put on hold by Metroweb’s
shareholders (F2i and FSI/Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) as a consequence of the launch of
alternative overlapped plans (e.g. by TI, Fastweb and Vodafone), mainly based on FTTCab.
According to Metroweb, this could cause a delay in the adoption of a unique full fiber
access solution.
While Metroweb strongly believes that FTTH is the more adequate solution to serve
emerging ultrabroadband needs in the more dense urban areas (20% of the population), they
agree that FTTCab can satisfy the needs in mid-density areas (30% of the population). The
remaining 50% of the population, on top of the present ADSL solutions, could be
adequately covered by LTE and other wireless technologies.
Vodafone currently offers NGN services based on VULA and bitstream services provided
by Telecom Italia Wholesale. Vodafone also has a contract with Metroweb to offer services
based on FTTH GPON architecture (currently under deployment) in Milan. Vodafone
credibly claims to be ready to launch an incremental investment plan on FTTCab. The
decision of AGCOM to mandate regulated sharing to existing and forthcoming Telecom

30 January 2014

Page 30


Italia cabinets has opened up infrastructure competition, removing the bottleneck. Vodafone
is now rolling out a three year FTTCab plan aiming at coverage of about 26% of households
by 1Q2017. Added to the target 600,000 households covered by the FTTH GPON plan by
2016, Vodafone plans sum up to near 29% covered households.





Wind is currently focused on developing the mobile broadband network; however, Wind
has also started to provide ultrafast broadband in Milano, based on the agreement with
Metroweb for the roll out of a FTTH based on GPON solution. The ultrafast broadband
customer base is expected to grow to some 150,000 in 2017. On a general basis, the Wind
approach is to extend the ultrafast service based on the infrastructure made available in each
specific area and foresee the development of a common wide infrastructure for which is
open to entertain discussions on possible means of participation..
3 is focused on mobile and LTE.
Infratel has developed its own forecast of investments needed for extensive deployment of
FTTcab. Infratel estimates an investment of around one billion euro to cover the main 151
cities (Comuni), corresponding to 31% population coverage. They estimate € 1.6 billion to
cover 450 cities, corresponding to 50% population coverage, and € 4.2 billion to cover
around 8,000 cities, corresponding to 95% of the population.

4.2. Feasibility of cost-effective FTTCab/VDSL2
As recently as two years ago, most experts assumed that broadband speeds of 100 Mbps would
necessarily imply deployment of Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) or Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH).
These are relatively expensive solutions, inasmuch as the need to run fibre all the way from the
central office (with its Main Distribution Frame (MDF)) to the customer premises implies a
considerable investment in civil works, primarily digging.
Very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) is an alternative technology that enables the
use of existing copper to the home.13 Typically, the copper from the MDF to the street cabinet is
replaced with fibre optics. Such Fibre-to-the-Cabinet VDSL2 (FTTCab/VDSL2) solutions tend to be
a significantly less expensive per home passed than FTTP or FTTH solutions because the high cost
of civil works to individual buildings is avoided. A street cabinet can serve 100-200 homes or more.
In general, the deeper that fibre is driven into a telecommunications network, and the less the
copper that remains, the great the throughput that can be supported; however, driving fibre deep
into the network also entails very substantial cost, not so much for the fibre itself, but rather the
cost of digging to deploy it (often referred to as the cost of “civil works”).
A number of technological innovations (sometimes referred to as “the second life of copper”) have
substantially increased the bandwidth available using advanced forms or successors of VDSL2.




13
14
15

Vectoring is a transmission method that employs noise cancellation across the line signals
on different copper pairs in the same bundle to reduce crosstalk between them and thus to
improve performance.14
Bonding uses two (or more) copper pairs to enhance throughput.15

VDSL2 is standardised in ITU-T G.993.2 (2005).
See ITU-T G.993.5: "Self-FEXT cancellation (vectoring) for use with VDSL2 transceivers" (2010).
Bonding is addressed in ITU-T G.998.x. Typically, bonding is useful only where a second pair is available.

30 January 2014

Page 31




G.Fast is an emerging technology that achieves extremely high speed where copper loop
lengths are very short, generally less than 300 metres.

The trade-offs among these various technologies are complex. A somewhat detailed review of
VDSL2, vectoring and G.Fast appears in Annex 2 to this report. At the risk of over-simplifying, a
few generalisations are in order:





Copper sub-loop lengths in Italy are among the shortest in Europe. This is an ideal
configuration for the less expensive technologies in the FTTCab/VDSL2 family.
VDSL2 itself is well-suited to speeds of 30 Mbps, and can achieve substantially higher
speeds for many lines in Italy (but not necessarily for all).
VDSL2 with vectoring can achieve speeds of 70-80 Mbps over many of the lines available
in Italy, and is expected to be realistically deployable within the next year or two.
G.Fast can achieve speeds that are even considerably higher over short enough loops.

Figure 6 summarises the interrelationships among realistically available speed, copper sub-loop
length, and the evolution of technology over time.
Figure 6. The evolution of technologies that provide broadband over copper.

Source: Huawei

How is this evolution likely to play out in the Italian context? Figure 7 and Figure 8 provide a view
that has been reviewed with the network operators. Fibre will be driven progressively deeper into
the network over time. Each step will provide greater speed, and in most cases greater reliability
and lower OPEX (operating expense) as well. Each step will also be associated with greater cost;
30 January 2014

Page 32


however, it is not necessary to take the higher (and thus more expensive) steps until there is
consumer demand for those services.
Figure 7. Italian access network and FTTx options.
Primary Network (0,2-2,2 km)

Secondary Network (100-700 m)

Adduction Network (10-30 m)

Vertical/Horizontal (10s m)

Local Loop
Sub-Loop (*)

~10.400
~5.700.000 (**)

~150.000

Distribution Point (*)

Central
Office

1:n

Cabinet

Cables with 400-2400 copper
pairs in ducts or buried in
trenches

1:n

External

Cables with 10-400
copper pairs in ducts,
mainly buried in
trenches, on poles or
on building facades

FTTE: Fiber To The Exchange

1:n

Home

1000-10000s subscribers

FTTC: Fiber To The Cabinet (#)

> 100 m, up to 100-250 subscribers

1:n (+)

FTTdp: Fiber To The Distribution Point (##)

<100 meters, 10s of subscribers

1:n (+)

FTTB: Fiber To The Building (##)

10s of meters, 1-10 subscribers

1:n

FTTH: Fiber To The Home (##)

Fiber Cable

~24.300.000

Internal / Building
Basement

(+)

(+)

1:n
1 subscriber
(*) The Distribution Point can be external or internal to the building
(**) About 1,8 Million internal DP and 3,9 Million external DP
(#) Fastweb used Fiber To The Street (FTTs) to launch its FTTC plan
(##) Fiber To The Premises (FTTP) also used for deep fiber rollouts
(+) 1:n where GPON architecture is used

Copper Cable

Figure 8. The journey of the Italian network from today to tomorrow.

Current View

FTTE: Fiber To The Exchange

FTTC: Fiber To The Cabinet

Future View

ADSL2+ up to 20 Mbps and 1 Mbps
upstream

VDSL2 evolution up to 50 Mbps DS and 10
Mbps US depending on copper length, copper
quality and concurrent usage of pairs in a
cable, vectoring to secure top speed on pairs
bundled in a loop cable

VDSL2 up to 30 to 100 Mbps DS and 3 to 30
Mbps US based on sub-loop length (up to
100Mbps for sub-loops < 300 m), vectoring
being tuned to secure top speed on pairs
bundled in a sub-loop cable

VDSL2 evolution to improve
performance/distance tradeoff, depending on
copper quality and concurrent usage,
vectoring to secure top speed on pairs bundled
in a sub-loop cable – G.Fast (sub-loops<100m)

VDSL2 evolution and G.Fast, vectoring up to
500-1000 Mbps aggregate (DS+US)

FTTdp: Fiber To The Distribution Point

VDSL2 and G.Fast, vectoring up to 1000 Mbps
aggregate (DS+US)

FTTB: Fiber To The Building

FTTH: Fiber To The Home

30 January 2014

scalable to >= 1 Gbps
Existing footprint Metro-Ring and P2P up to
100 Mbps DS and US
GPON: shared bandwidth up to 2.5/1 Gbps

Page 33

scalable to >= 1 Gbps
Metro-Ring and P2P scalable to >=1 Gbps
GPON: shared bandwidth up to 10/2.5 Gbps
NGPON2: shared bandwidth up to 80/80 Gbps


It had been hoped at one point that vectoring alone would deliver speeds of up to 100 Mbps. More
recent estimates suggest that this is only possible under the most ideal circumstances. Speeds in the
range of 60-80 Mbps seem to be more realistic, based on today’s vectoring implementations, as
shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9. The relationship of sub-loop length to speed under vectoring.

Source: Alcatel-Lucent16
In practice, these trade-offs are complex. Neither Vectoring nor G.Fast could meet the 100 Mbps
DAE Objective 3 requirement for all lines in Italy today; however, that is not the real requirement.
What the DAE Objectives require is that they be able to offer 100 Mbps service (however defined)
by 2020, and that they do so for enough lines to enable 50% of households to subscribe. Given the
rate at which the technology is improving, it is distinctly possible that that might be achievable
without extending fibre beyond the street cabinet for a substantial fraction of Italian households.
Based on what is known today, one could reasonably expect half of Italian households to be
suitable for G.Fast in 2018-2020 without the need to extend the fibre connection. The average subloop length in Italy is just 300 metres. The median sub-loop length is about 200 metres, i.e. half of
all sub-loops are shorter than 200 metres.
It is quite possible that this will not be quite sufficient to meet DAE Objective 3. Should that be the
case, it would still be feasible to extend fibre from the street cabinet to a distribution point (at or
close to the building) in order to shorten the distance over which copper must carry the signal.
In a 2011 study of the costs of broadband deployment, the European Investment Bank (EIB) made
the following estimates of the costs per household of ADSL2, FTTCab/VDSL2, FTTH, and FTTB
16

Alcatel-Lucent (2012), VDSL2 Vectoring in a Multi-operator Environment – Separating Fact from Fiction, at:
http://www2.alcatel-lucent.com/techzine/vdsl2-vectoring-in-a-multi-operator-environment-separating-fact-fromfiction/#sthash.lL2V61Nv.dpuf, viewed 24 January 2014.

30 January 2014

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deployment.17 The EIB did not consider vectoring or G.Fast; however, we make the assumption
here that, in cases where no additional fibre deployment is required, the equipment cost per port
for equipment capable of vectoring and/or G.Fast in 2018-2020 will be no greater than that of
VDSL2 equipment in 2011 or today. Based on progressive improvements in semi-conductor
price/performance (Moore’s Law), this assumption seems reasonable.
The figures in Table 2 distinguish among urban (greater than 500 inhabitants per Km2), suburban
(between 100 and 500 inhabitants per Km2), and rural (less than 100 inhabitants per Km2) areas.
(Note that we made adjustments to some of these cost estimates in developing our own estimates of
the cost of meeting DAE Objectives in Italy today, as explained in Annex 3.)
Table 2. Cost per household to deploy various broadband technologies (euro).

Urban
40
250
350
460
50

ADSL2
FTTC/VDSL2
FTTB
FTTH
LTE

Suburban
80
500
1000
1150
110

Rural
200
1800
2700
2800
380

Source: EIB (2011), “Assessing the cost of fulfilling the EU2020 DAE targets”18
In general, FTTCab solutions cost roughly one fourth to one third as much as FTTP/FTTH
solutions (see also Table 7 in Annex 3). They can also be two to three times as quick to deploy as
FTTP/FTTH solutions. Business trade-offs for network operators are, however, complex and are
linked to the regulatory environment.
FTTCab/VDSL2 solutions seem to be more than adequate to meet realistic demand through 2020
and somewhat beyond. Unless there is a strong argument to be made that Italy needs to go
substantially beyond DAE Objectives, and assuming no radical increase over time in broadband
usage per household, there is a strong argument for proceeding with FTTCab/VDSL2 solutions for
DAE Objectives 2 and 3.
It is likely that it will eventually be necessary to eventually build out solutions that are even more
capable than FTTCab/VDSL2; however, if that investment is deferred ten years or more, then the
ability to apply the capital to other productive uses in the interim has substantial value to Italy.
Moreover, deployment costs are likely to be lower in the future than they are at present.
We hasten to add that it is not the goal of public policy to choose technological winners or losers;
nonetheless, where government is called upon to make industrial policy decisions, it is necessary
(and indeed unavoidable) to make realistic estimates of costs and benefits under reasonable
assumptions, as we are doing here.
With that said, we refer the reader to the rough estimates of deployment costs that appear in
Annex 3 to this report.

17

18

EIB (2011), “Assessing the cost of fulfilling the EU2020 DAE targets”. this report is not publicly available; however,
the key findings appear in Hätönen, J. (2011), The economic impact of fixed and mobile high-speed networks, EIB
Papers, Volume 16, No 2, pp. 30-59; available at:
http://www.eib.org/infocentre/publications/all/eibpapers-2011-v16-n02.htm.
Again, this report is not publicly available; however, the key findings appear in Hätönen, J. (2011), The economic
impact of fixed and mobile high-speed networks, EIB Papers, Volume 16, No 2, pp. 30-59; available at:
http://www.eib.org/infocentre/publications/all/eibpapers-2011-v16-n02.htm.

30 January 2014

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4.3. Increased availability of catch-up video
RAI, Mediaset, and SKY have all announced and released new IP-based platforms for catch-up
television on the Internet. This represents a welcome departure from recent history.
Our interviews suggest that Italian network operators and Over-the-Top (OTT) players have had
somewhat limited access to audiovisual content in the Italian language, which has likely inhibited
consumer interest in fast broadband (see Section 5.5.5). The increased availability of catch-up
video implies that one key aspect of this challenge appears to be on the mend.
Rapidly growing penetration of new devices capable of delivering high quality audiovisual content
on demand over the internet, increasingly entailing both download and upload, has already driven
very significant growth in traffic, and is likely to accelerate over time. Smart TV, connected game
consoles, and tablets will all be offering services and catering to a growing market of bandwidth
hungry customers.
While most of these devices are used in wireless mode, the vast majority of consumption happens
in Wi-Fi mode, which requires (and drives demand for) high quality high bandwidth fixed
connections.
The imminent commercial availability of 4K ultra HDTV sets is likely to further strengthen these
trends.
Importantly, these applications require a much lower level of digital literacy than personal
computers. In the coming years, they might significantly contribute to reducing the digital divide
and driving demand for connectivity and broadband in large segments of the market that have been
far less interested in these developments in the past.

30 January 2014

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5. Worrisome developments and challenges

Key Findings


In achieving DAE broadband Objectives, Italy faces numerous challenges.
o Uncertainty as to whether the deployment plans will continue to be pursued.
o Challenges in covering the 50% of households that are not addressed by current plans of
network operators.
o Two million copper lines of low quality require special attention.
o Heavy reliance on Telecom Italia to meet the DAE broadband Objectives.
o Numerous challenges in putting capital effectively to work. This has many manifestations:
(1) locked-up investment in the case of Metroweb; (2) the tendency of all operators to
invest in covering the same 50% of the population; (3) VDSL-specific challenges,
including both street cabinet sharing, and coordination of lines where vectoring is
deployed; (4) sharing in the mobile network; and (5) opportunities to use infrastructure
from other network industries (e.g. electricity, water). Some of these are challenges for
the industry, while others are challenges for the National Regulatory Authority (NRA).
Italy may wish to strike a different balance (with due respect for European State Aid and
competition rules) between promoting investment and promoting competition than some
other European Member States. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that
competition is often the most important spur to investment in fast and ultrafast
broadband.
o Challenges regarding demand. Concerns include a declining number of fixed lines,
penetration of fixed broadband that is stalled at current levels, limited consumption of
audiovisual content, an aging population, and too few personal computers.
→ All of this leads to an unsettling but seemingly inescapable conclusion: DAE goal #3 will not
be fully achieved without substantial additional public policy intervention.

In Chapter 4, we presented the good news; in this chapter, we present the bad.
Key concerns and challenges are heavily intertwined, and include:







19

Uncertainty as to whether the deployment plans will continue to be pursued. Many previous
plans have languished.
It is unclear how to cover all of the 50% of households that are not addressed by current plans
of network operators. Two million copper lines of low quality require special attention.19
Heavy reliance on Telecom Italia to meet the DAE broadband objectives.
Where cabinets and copper bundles are to be shared, the likely technology (VDSL2 with
vectoring) requires coordination among network operators.
In the absence of public policy initiatives, there is a substantial potential for inefficient and
duplicative deployment of capital.
At many different levels, there is insufficient demand in Italy at present. This takes on many
forms: declining fixed lines, penetration of fixed broadband stalled at current levels, limited
access to audiovisual content in the Italian language, an aging population, and too few
personal computers.

This is a concern inasmuch as the plans of all fixed network operators (with the exception of Metroweb) rely
heavily on the exploitation of existing copper.

30 January 2014

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"Rapporto Caio" Achieving the Objectives of the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) in Italy: Prospects and Challenges

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