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Government official says state-owned Infratel will get broadband network rollout project underway.
The Italian government is having trouble with its ultrafast broadband plan.
It has failed to secure partners from the private sector to take part in the rollout of high-speed broadband networks to underserved areas, but has pledged that state-owned firm Infratel will push ahead with the first phase of the project alone, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
Citing Claudio De Vincenti, an undersecretary at the prime minister’s office, the newswire said that Infratel will get the rollout underway, and decisions on public-private partnerships will be made a later date.
Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi announced last summer that the government was ready to make the first €2.2 billion of funding available for an ambitious ultrafast broadband project that will ultimately cost around €12 billion.
Renzi said €5 billion of the sum would come from the private sector and €7 billion from the state.
The aim of the scheme is to ensure "complete coverage of the country, so there is not even a single zone left behind," Renzi said.
The participation of the private sector will be necessary in order for the state to realise its goal of making ultrafast broadband available to all Italian citizens by 2020, added Antonello Giacomelli, undersecretary of communications, in a statement at the time.
Thus far though, Italy seems to have had little luck convincing private operators to part with their cash.
