Used more and more often to indicate a socio-cultural revolution, the term inclusion
in recent years it has embraced the adjective digital. Digital inclusion ended up on top of the
agendas of governments around the world. Access to the Internet is now considered a right
fundamental and to guarantee it, a fight against the “digital divide” has begun, that is the disparity that is created
between those who have adequate access to the network and those who do not.
The numbers
Digital connectivity has been described as a precondition for realizing the digital agenda
work has already started in the EU and in European countries. The latest Cisco Broadband Index research, conducted by interviewing over 13,000 people in Italy, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Poland and
Russia, demonstrates how having a high-end broadband infrastructure can play a role
significant for creating more agile and opportunity-rich societies and economies.
78% of the sample interviewed (81% for Italians) believe that today broadband connectivity is a necessity. 86% of Italians (81% globally) ask the government of their country to close the digital divide and speed up projects as soon as possible to offer everyone reliable and high-speed Internet access.
More than three quarters of the sample (79% in Italy, 76% in the world) believes that connectivity for all
is vital for economic growth. Over half (53% of Italians and 54% of the whole
sample) believes that investments in broadband infrastructure are as important as
investments in other public services.
Nonetheless, the digital divide continues to harm many citizens. In Italy and in other countries
involved in the research, nearly half of those who experienced connection difficulties
during the pandemic it said it could not access critical services such as online health services and education.
The Italian situation
Our country has been in motion for some time to try to bridge the digital gap, both by involving national players with their technologies, and by collecting the first funds from the Recovery Plan. The approval of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan with an overall positive judgment by the European Commission has in fact released 13% of the pre-financing to Italy.
They are destined for the first mission, the one relating to investments in digitization
50.07 billion euro, 6.31 of which to the “Ultra-fast networks”. The investment aims to bring connectivity to 1 Gigabit per second to approximately 8.5 million households, businesses and institutions. The focus is therefore on full technological neutrality and leverages the best technological solutions available, both fixed and Fixed wireless access (Fwa).
In any case, our country still shows more or less marked differences between the regions. Istat data
highlight a gap between North and South in terms of broadband. The highest percentage of households
that have a connection is recorded in Trentino Alto Adige, Veneto and Lazio. The southern areas appear to be lagging behind, with some regions that have even worsened over the years: the
Basilicata went from 68.4% to 67.5%. The Italian average of households accessing broadband is expected to be 74.7%.
Programs to accelerate digital skills
With “Digital Italy 2026” the government intends to reduce the digital skills gap, aiming at the goal of 70% of the digitally capable population by 2026.
initiatives to support citizens’ digital skills to give everyone the same opportunities. In
this area, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan as a whole provides for various lines of action that cover all the junctions of the educational path.
The interventions aim to support the population groups at greatest risk of suffering the consequences of the digital divide. In addition to the more traditional measures provided by the platforms
educational, education and support for insertion into the world of work, with the Pnrr you want
strengthen digital facilitation experiences in the area and the Digital Civil Service. By doing so, around 3 million citizens will be able to acquire basic digital skills.
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