The Ministry of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition (Midt) presented the two calls, for 2.02 billion euros, to complete 5G coverage in Italy. It is a piece of the Italia 1 Giga plan (2026), which also provides for complete coverage with fixed technologies (optical fiber or fixed-wireless).
It is the first time that the state has subsidized the development of a wireless network, confirming the particular importance of 5G compared to previous generations to “digitize” cities, companies and families. A move that, however, for telephone operators must be accompanied by real regulatory simplification, in order to be fully effective.
The calls
The first call will serve arto delegate more than 10,000 existing mobile radio sites via optical fiber; you need the optical fiber otherwise even if there is a 5G antenna the actual speed is rather low.
The second serves instead to create new mobile radio sites with 5G antennas in more than 2,000 areas without investments by market operators. The public funding foreseen by the calls will come to cover up to 90% of the total cost of the works.
Operators have until April 27 to submit applications.
The latest official data (Desi, from the European Commission) indicate that only 8 percent of Italians are covered by 5G. But they are stopped in mid-2020: in the last 24 months there has been a boom in coverage, especially in 2021, and now it is around 95 percent according to data from operators. However, with what actual speed it is not known; as mentioned, the presence of a 5G antenna does not guarantee that there is enough ultra-wide band for all users who connect to it.
The public and private funds in the coming years will be used to give real 5G to everyone, a technology that can potentially also offer a few gigabits of speed, to be shared by connected users.
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Missing simplifications
However, despite the aid from the state, operators in recent months have complained about the presence of regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles, harmful to the development of the network. See the studies Luiss-Wind3 (the most recent), Ambrosetti-Wind3, Ambrosetti-Tim.
One problem is still i long times for granting permits to lay fiber or install antennas; despite the rules that in recent years served to reduce them. There has been an improvement but not enough, as also noted by the Asstel association of the main telephone operators.
Another problem is the electromagnetic limits. The Italian ones are by far the lowest in Europe, against all scientific evidence. The result is a brake on the installation of antennas and / or an increase in costs for operators and, in cascade, for users. The Luiss-Ambrosetti study indicates a deriving damage equal to 3.2 per cent of GDP per capita for the Italian population.
The government has so far ignored all scientific evidence and even a bipartisan appeal to the House to bring the Italian limits to European levels. This measure is scientifically founded, but also judged unpopular by the Draghi government as by its predecessors
Not only.
“The 5G plan is among the most ambitious and necessary within the country’s digitization program,” says Stefano De Marinis, of the EY observatory.
But this measure – EY currency – “will nevertheless have to be accompanied by an awareness of citizens and especially businesses on the advantages of 5G networks. “For example, for factory automation, for precision agriculture.
According to the “5 ways to better 5G” report, published in May 2021 by Ericsson and with data updated at the end of 2020, only 1% of smartphone users (15-69 years) in Italy use 5G connections.
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