We will certainly participate in the consultation on the intervention plan scheduled for the third quarter. We work with virtually all mobile and fixed wireless operators providing dark fiber or capacity backhauling. This is a market target on which Retelit is historically positioned. With regard to corridors and extra-urban roads, the content of the calls is not yet available, which according to the Government roadmap should be issued between the end of the year and the beginning of 2022, but the objectives should be aimed at enhancing these routes where 5G services will be needed particularly high performance with dedicated fiber optic backhauling. It means that optical fiber will be required and it will be necessary to lay new cables: Retelit stands out precisely for this, because it has created its infrastructure mainly along state roads, also reaching the borders of the Peninsula in several points (Frejus and Colle della Maddalena with France, Drezzo with Switzerland, Brenner and Tarvisio with Austria, for example) through their own infrastructures. We have the skills and experience, as well as over twenty years of experience in the wholesale market and consolidated relationships with other operators to be considered the ideal and complete operator to take part in this game.
With regard to vertical sectors, such as healthcare, what are the main prospects that open up with the 5G radio spectrum?
A consultation was recently sent by Agcom which aims to get feedback on the fact that 5G frequencies are also reserved for specific verticals, such as health, energy and production, as is already the case in some European countries (for example France, Holland , Germany and Sweden). As reported in the consultation document, there is a range of options for managing the radio spectrum regarding the usable frequency bands, access to frequencies that can be licensed or unlicensed, the exclusive or shared use of the spectrum in different ways. management and use of the spectrum based on the characteristics and requirements of the verticals. So it means reserving portions of bandwidth dedicated to specific vertical needs, and possibly directly to operators who already offer these vertical sectors other types of services complementary to those conveyed via 5G frequencies (for example cloud services). In this case, 5G becomes an additional tool for network operators to complete their offer.
Returning to the Italian strategy for ultra-broadband, as part of the fiber plan to bring 1 gig to 8.5 million homes, are you ready to participate in the calls for gray and black areas at the end of the new mapping?
We participated, among the few, in the calls for white areas, the first for Emilia-Romagna and the second for the Province of Trento and Friuli-Venezia Giulia; although we were not winners, not only did we demonstrate that we were able to participate and meet the requirements, but the model we proposed in Rti with an engineering and construction company would have ensured compliance with the deadlines. The gray areas are even more suitable for us because in these areas there are also industrial districts and companies whose needs we know, thus allowing us to make available our experience in the offer aimed at the business market. The characteristic that makes us the ideal candidate is the fact of being an infrastructure operator with local assets and with a historical vocation in the wholesale world; in fact, even for the gray areas, the network access services that will be created must be made available in wholesale mode, ensuring equal treatment for all retail operators interested in accessing these areas.