The money from the NRP, that is the European post-Covid relaunch program, is precious because it represents an additional flow of resources, but in view of the recovery, the bulk of the investments will come from national authorities and private companies. For example, in the field of telecommunications, which proved to be so fundamental in the period of the pandemic, “the 6.7 billion euros in five years of the PNRR are worth the investment of the telcos in one year” says Gianluca Corti, Chief Commercial Officer of WINDTRE. “It is certainly an important contribution, but private investments will still be necessary to create the digital infrastructure that serves to keep the Italian economy running. And only a favorable context will be able to support them. A simplification is certainly needed, and fortunately the government is working on it ”.
Corti commented on a report on the value of the telecommunications sector for the country system, produced by The European House – Ambrosetti. The manager hopes for a change in the regulatory framework: it is necessary to “design the renewal of the licenses for frequencies at sustainable economic conditions, harmonize Italy’s electromagnetic limits to the European average, simplify bureaucracy and have rules more sensitive to the protection of the quality of services” .
The pandemic has further increased the demand for connectivity, but the networks have also held up thanks to the huge investments, over 65 billion euros in ten years, made by telcos despite the continuous decline in revenues and margins. “The demand for bandwidth continues to grow” Corti observes “while prices fall due to hyper-competition.” A general picture that will not be sustainable for long, he warns, “just at a time when the government is making an exceptional effort , the slowdown in private investments would lead to a delay on 5G and the digital transformation of the country “.
Gianluca Corti summarizes WINDTRE’s strategies for facing the challenges of the sector: “The goal for us is to enhance our three major assets, the WINDTRE brand, the customer base and the multi-sales network. We are developing a portfolio of digital services ranging from security to the cloud, passing through the IoT, and at the beginning of the year we will launch an electricity and gas offer thanks to the partnership with Acea Energia “.