ROMA – The mobile phone network marks an unprecedented record in Italy. In January 2021, data traffic on our smartphones reached peaks never known in the country.
The photograph of the Communications Authority (AgCom) it is clear. It shows that the volume of videos, photos and messages exchanged on mobile phones grew by 60 percent (last month) compared to February 2020, when the pandemic hit the Peninsula.
Before the Covid-19 emergency, the progression was, of course, year after year. But it stood at 20 percent over twelve months. This time the leap forward is 60 percent. And so, in just one year, the increase that – normally – would have required three is achieved.
This massive and regular growth produces two effects: the traffic peaks of last Christmas (already high) are exceeded; and the volumes determine the new record in the Italian history of cellular communications.
Now, the boom of the fixed network was widely expected, because Italians practice working from home en masse and are always on the Internet from their PCs. Instead, the success of the mobile network and cell phones surprised the technicians of the Guarantor, who did not expect such a scenario.
If people travel much less than in the past, because they are forced into their homes by Covid-19, then data traffic on smartphones should have suffered from the brakes. Instead things went in the opposite direction.
The exponential growth in the use of mobile phones can have two explanations. All families experience the difficulties of the landline when children do distance learning, dad and mom surf for work or watch Netflix.
At that moment, everyone is on the same Internet line (thanks to wi-fi) and the answers are often disappointing, in terms of connection quality.
At that point, someone in the family folds up on their mobile phone, hunting for an oasis of efficiency and speed. And if once the use of the mobile phone involved large outlays and a rapid consumption of giga, now there are wallet-saving offers on the market. Even 9.99 euros can be enough to have 70 gigabytes of traffic per month. Super affordable rates are therefore the other reason for the mobile phone’s success.
Colao’s ideas for a digital Italy: fight against cash, algorithms in the public administration, broadband also via satellite, aid for 5G
by Aldo Fontanarosa
The massive use of Italians on mobile phones brings to mind the theses that Vittorio Colao he exposed – in June 2020 – in his plan “Initiatives for the 2020-2022 relaunch”, as a consultant to the Conte government.
In June 2020, Colao, now Minister of Technological Innovation of the Draghi government, explained to us that the quality of web connections will not necessarily be guaranteed by the fixed network, which is implemented in a long time and at high costs.
A big hand will also come from over-the-air and wireless connections. In short, the Internet will be able to reach our homes – more and more – thanks to satellite, super fast wi-fi (Fwa) and the same 5G mobile network.
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