Strategic partnership between FiberConnect and Tiscali to bring optical fiber to the Italian industrial and artisan areas
FibreConnect e Tiscali Italy announce a strategic agreement with the aim of bringing ultra-broadband to the Industrial and Craft Areas in Italy (AIA). The partnership will make it possible to implement connectivity services that are fundamental today for the innovation of Italian companies, also with a view to giving value to the investments made or planned in the directions of Industry 4.0, exploiting the benefits offered by services such as Cloud, Smart Manufacturing and the Internet of Things (IoT).
FibreConnect, independent operator that offers, in Wholesale Only mode, high-performance and reliable connectivity services for companies in the Italian AIA, will be responsible for developing the network. Tiscali Italy, telecommunications operator among the first in the ultrabroadband access segment and main operating company of the Tessellis Group, will be responsible for the implementation of value-added connectivity services, with the aim of becoming the reference operator in the area.
The agreement between FibreConnect e Tiscali provides, in a first phase, the coverage of thousands of localized Small and Medium Enterprises in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Lombardy and Puglia, realizing, in a short time, fundamental infrastructures for the development of the territories. Subsequently, the collaboration will be extended to other Regions to further increase the coverage of the ultra-broadband in the industrial areas which represent the beating heart of our country’s economy.
In Italy, today, there are about one million companies that operate within the AIA and that need the necessary tools to unlock their full potential for innovation. The strategic partnership will therefore play a fundamental role in accelerating the development of the network in the selected areas.
According to the data of ISTAT report “Enterprises and ICT” for 2022, only 13.2% of Small and Medium Enterprises in Italy (with over 10 employees) have access to at least 1 Giga connectivity. The remaining 82.8% can count on a fixed broadband that ensures a speed of at least 30 Mbit/s, which is not adequate for the connectivity needs of businesses today. All this in the face of an increase in the demand for Internet access for work purposes: SMEs in Italy in which more than 50% of employees have access to the Internet for work purposes have increased by approximately 23% compared to 2019.
“The agreement with FiberConnect constitutes a further step in the implementation of the Company’s Business Plan, consolidating Tiscali’s role as a technology enabler, capable of creating synergies and combining its assets in an ecosystem capable of generating value and innovation. In fact, Tiscali is carrying out a series of strategic operations to reshape its positioning, investing in the offer of innovative services to the business world, as well as that of households. The work on the Artisanal Industrial Areas confirms the profuse commitment in favor of the country’s entrepreneurial class so that they can benefit from massive coverage in ultra-fast fiber optics (FTTH) and high value-added vertical services developed precisely for homogeneous groups of users. We are convinced that FiberConnect represents the ideal partner to seize this important opportunity for development and economic growth.” he has declared Davide Rota, Chief Executive Officer of Tessellis.
“The agreement signed with Tiscali, one of the most important Italian telecommunications operators, represents the confirmation that our business strategy, based on the Wholesale-Only model, is able to provide an effective response to the current market needs”he has declared Renzo Ravaglia, CEO and Co-Founder of FiberConnect. “Thanks to an entirely high-performance optical fiber infrastructure, we are able to enable the ultra-broadband services necessary to unleash the full potential of the small and medium-sized enterprises present in the Industrial and Craft Areas that will be reached by the FibreConnect network, which will thus be able to increase their level of competitiveness in a context in which communication infrastructures have a similar importance to those of energy or transport”.
The great opportunity offered by the collaboration between Tiscali and FiberConnect which, by bringing super-fast optical fiber to selected Italian industrial and artisanal areas, will allow local businesses to participate in the fourth industrial revolution. By grafting itself into a framework of collaboration with local operators, the partnership will allow Tiscali to have greater penetration in industrial and artisanal areas in the national territory, expanding the customer base, in light of the assumption of certain commitments to purchase minimum volumes of connectivity in the areas identified during the course of the project.
The infrastructure will contribute to the revaluation of the areas involved, encouraging companies to remain in the area, transferring the consequent direct and indirect economic benefits to it, in line with the objectives of the digital agenda.
Photos: Empower Oy