Off the wire
• Angry Iraqis protest against corruption, poor public services  • 1st LD: 2nd explosion, gunfire rock Afghan capital  • Urgent: 2nd explosion, gunfire rock Afghan capital  • (Sports Focus) Chinese swimming starts to show solid strength  • Sierra Leone to remove certain restrictions over Ebola  • China pledges to support Africa's economic development: envoy  • FLASH: ANOTHER EXPLOSION HEARD IN DOWNTOWN KABUL, THE SECOND ONE THIS EVENING  • Belgium to create urgently 2,500 additional reception places for asylum seekers  • Czech Air Force conduct NATO mission over Iceland  • Spanish stock market falls 0.67 pct, closes at 11,178 points  
You are here: 　 Home

Italian gov't to invest 12 bln euros in ultra-speed Internet

Xinhua, August 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced his government will spend 12 billion euros (over 13 billion U.S. dollars) over 20 years for ultra-speed Internet.

Renzi illustrated the initiative to his center-left Democratic Party (PD) on Friday saying that his objective was the complete coverage of Italy to close a large digital divide with the rest of Europe.

The investment, he said, will feature 7 billion euros in public funding, including 2.1 billion euros in European regional funds, and 5 billion euros from private money.

The first tranche of Italian cash investments for the ultra-broadband plan, or 2.2 billion euros, will be immediately unlocked as "a first installment" through 2020, Renzi pointed out.

He said the goal was to to guarantee by 2020 that 85 percent of Italians have access to basic broadband.

Local experts observed, however, the ambitious plan can be conditional on a likely series of enacting measures or uncertain parliamentary process, which cannot grant the rapidity of its implementation.

"At this point, phone operators have nothing to do but get involved," Renzi went on saying. He also mentioned the announcement made earlier this week that Italian telecommunications company Wind will merge into a 50-50 joint venture with competitor 3 Italia.

"The combination of the two networks, together with significant additional investment ... will accelerate the availability of high-speed mobile and fixed broadband services throughout Italy," read a joint statement by Wind's parent company VimpelCom - one of the world's largest integrated telecommunications services operators, headquartered in Amsterdam - and 3 Italia's parent company CK Hutchison - a multi-national conglomerate headquartered in Hong Kong.

The statement added that with over 31 million mobile customers and 2.8 million fixed line customers, the combined business is expected to generate significant Capex and Opex benefits with a net present value, less integration costs, in excess of 5 billion euros.

The joint revenue of both companies in fiscal year 2014 was 6.4 billion euros and the transaction is one of the largest M&A deals to be done in Italy since 2007, the statement said. (1 euro = 1.09 U.S. dollars) Endit