Thanks to an investment of 5 million euros, Siracusa is one of the first cities in Italy to boast a new generation telephone infrastructure now fully operational for the benefit of private citizens and businesses. The major infrastructure work required to create the city's fixed and mobile ultrafast networks was illustrated today by Giancarlo Garozzo, Mayor of Siracusa, and Claudio Forzano, Head of Access Operations Line East Sicily of Telecom Italia.
Since the launch of the project, which saw Telecom Italia working to build the new fibre optic Next Generation Access Network (NGAN) and 4G mobile network, including the most highly evolved version, ultrabroadband is now a reality in Siracusa. This result has been achieved thanks to the significant investments made by Telecom Italia and its collaboration with the municipal authorities of Siracusa, both of which have allowed the excavation and cable laying work to take place quickly, minimising the time and cost of the work and its impact on the city.
In Siracusa the programme already covers over 33 thousand properties amounting to over 65% of the population thanks to the laying of approximately 79 kilometres of fibre optic cable (of which only 8 km involved digging and mainly of the innovative, low residential impact type). Over the year ultrabroadband coverage should reach a level of about 80%.
The result achieved confirms the commitment on the part of both Telecom Italia and the municipal authorities to boost the work being done and quickly provide households and businesses with a 50 Megabit Internet connection, thus adding Siracusa to the élite group of Italian cities where ultrabroadband services are now available.
Telecom Italia's “Ultra Internet” services based on FTTCab (Fiber to the Cabinet) technology already offer a super-fast 50 Megabit per second download speed connection with performance and service levels that dramatically improve the experience of surfing the Net. .
In future, there is potential to improve the performance of fibre optic connections to provide speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second.
Furthermore, businesses can access the world of Impresa Semplice professional IT solutions, using them to their full potential thanks to the fibre optic connection. Ultrabroadband also enables innovative applications, such as telepresence, video surveillance, cloud computing services for businesses, as well as applications allowing local authorities to implement the smart city model, including systems for security and monitoring the territory, infomobility and sensor networks for environmental tele-monitoring.
As regards mobile telephony, Siracusa is among the leading cities at a national level. TIM's new service 4G Plus, the LTE Advanced Technology was in fact recently launched, enabling real transmission speeds almost double those currently available. Telecom Italia has created the new 4G network throughout the municipal territory, reaching a coverage of 99% of the population thanks to the adaptation of 14 radio base stations, which should become 19 over the next year, and activating 4G Plus in some areas, providing connections up to 225 Megabit a second in download, making services and high definition multimedia content available on mobile devices. The TIM new generation mobile network offers a considerably higher speed than that of previous generation networks thus providing users with a performance and service levels considerably improving the net surfing experience and the use of innovative contents on mobile devices, such as video streaming in HD.
“We're pleased that Siracusa is one of the first Italian cities to have modern network infrastructures enabling citizens and businesses to make the most of innovative services, contributing to the development of the local economy and to the increasing efficiency of municipal services, such as in the field of traffic information and safety - said Claudio Forzano, Head of Access Operations Line East Sicily of Telecom Italia. - Within the sphere of its investments plan, Telecom Italia has decided to dedicate a significant share of its development programmes to the ultrabroadband networks, thereby making a significant contribution to achieving the objectives laid down in the European Digital Agenda. Fibre optic and 4G Plus are now a reality in Siracusa, also thanks to the active involvement of the municipal authorities".
"I would like to thank Telecom Italia for having invested in our city, placing us in the front ranks of the Italian sector for new technologies applied to the Network, both as regards the new fibre optic NGAN (Next Generation Access Network) and the mobile connection 4G in the most evolved version - stated Giancarlo Garozzo, Mayor of Siracusa. Siracusa is thus one of most advanced realities, being able to use ultrabroadband services which will help us to better achieve our projects for a smart city. Siracusa is one of the first Italian cities to take this path, benefiting from the advantages in terms of services, quality of life and opportunities for the growth model we are pursuing. The fields that we have tried out the application in are currently those of enhancing and making the most of our cultural heritage, controlling air quality and public transport and managing city traffic. Having an ultra-fast fixed and mobile network facilitates us in this path, setting Siracusa alongside European capital cities: a place where modernity and history will successfully merge".
By creating ultrabroadband infrastructure and dedicated solutions for the city of Siracusa, Telecom Italia has confirmed its commitment to innovating at local level and disseminating the services enabled by these solutions, thus contributing to the sustainable growth of the local economy and to improving quality of life for citizens.
Further information on the Telecom Italia network at http://telecomitalia.com/rete
Siracusa, 1 july 2015
