Telecom Italia and Udine City Council today signed an agreement on a next generation fibre optic ultrabroadband network (NGAN) across the town using FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) to bring latest generation fibre and electronics to within a few hundred yards of customers.
The fibre network will be realised as far as possible exploiting all available infrastructure and innovative digging techniques to cut construction times and costs and at the same time ensure minimum impact on the environment.
The agreement was signed today by the Mayor of Udine Furio Honsell and Telecom Italia Director of Strategy, Oscar Cicchetti.
The initiative is part of a national programme of fibre investment by Telecom Italia to realise a Next Generation Access Network (NGAN) which will reach 75% of the inhabitants of Italy's biggest 100 towns over the next 30 months, and make a major contribution to meeting the European Digital Agenda objectives.
Early next year the people of Udine will begin to enjoy broadband connections at speeds of 30 to +50 Megabit/second. This will not only mean faster access to current services but also enable new generation cloud applications for business and smart city services, such as territorial monitoring, urban security, remote control of public utility systems, traffic management, valorisation of cultural heritage and telehealthcare services.
To ensure that the project proceeds quickly and safely with the minimum environmental impact, Telecom Italia will utilise so-called “mini-trenches” - only a few centimetres wide and just 30 centimetres deep - to reduce the environmental costs in terms of disturbance to the general public and local authorities by up to 80%, cut accidents at work by 67% and the shorten time required for the work by 80%.
A particularly innovative aspect will be the use of the city sewer mains. This will be one of the first examples of large scale adoption of this new technique in Italy, using special materials and technologies (armoured mini-pipes, remote controlled robots for pipe inspections, etc.), to cut out more than 65% of the digging. The public lighting system will also be used. Existing infrastructure will be fitted with mini-pipes and inspection pits to separate the electricity and sewer networks from the fibre optic TLC lines and eliminate any interference.
“Data is wealth in the 21st century. Investing in telecommunications highways is as important as investing in roads was at the beginning of the 20th century - stated the mayor of Udine Furio Honsell -. One sign of the importance of this agreement is that fact, compared with the European Union's goal of 30 mega connectivity by 2020, we are aiming to go well above 50 mega by 2015. Numerous studies show that a broader bandwidth brings increased GDP and employment. This agreement is a concrete sign of Udine's contribution to economic development and job creation.”
“The realization of broadband and ultrabroadband infrastructure and the diffusion of the services that use it will provide a powerful boost to the economy of the Udine area and improvement to the quality of life of its citizens - said Oscar Cicchetti, Telecom Italia Director of Strategy -. A region's competitiveness is increasingly linked to its level of online activity and its ability to exploit new applications. That is why Telecom Italia was eager to embrace the Udine initiative. We are convinced that through the commitment of local authorities, projects to transform infrastructure and services can be triggered to valorise the specificity and potential of towns and regions.”
“Udine will represent a trial by Telecom in the innovative laying of fibre optic using all existing underground networks to limit public inconvenience and accelerate the project - claimed the town's Innovation Commissioner, Paolo Coppola - . The works will be carried out in collaboration with Amga and Ato who will make their public lighting and sewer networks available to the operation. “Access to such infrastructure represents a fundamental added value for the territory, a strategic competitive advantage in re-launching the economy through high tech sectors that can play a crucial part in overcoming the economic crisis.”
Udine, 29 May 2012
