Telecommunications operators make a request to the government for Open Fiber: that it be a single and neutral network
For Open Fiber, the request of telecommunications operators to the government is quite clear, that is, a single and neutral network. For too many years, in fact, it would have been under the yoke of TIM, creating a particularly burdensome situation so much as to negatively affect the development of the infrastructure, causing a considerable extension of time.
Born in December 2015, Open Fiber is a wholesale operator - that is, one that does not provide for the stipulation of contracts directly with customers but exclusively with other operators - whose goal is to build FTTH networks with GPON technology throughout the Italian territory. Currently, the company is 50% owned by Enel, while the remaining 50% is held by the state-owned Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), which provides funding for the various works and the implementation of public service infrastructures. All of Open Fiber's activities benefit from investments by private companies, for those areas with higher population density and considered to have a high rate of return, and public, for those that are called "white areas", or market failure.
Open Fiber, the opinion of Vodafone, Sky and WindTre
To emphasize the importance of a single and independent network was, during the 5G Italy 2020 event, the CEO of Sky Italia Maximo Ibarra. Together with Vodafone and WindTre, Sky had expressed its position recalling how only in the last 3-4 years it was possible to act on the network, implementing the necessary changes to take the first steps towards the future.
The importance of a completely independent network, as specified by Ibarra, was also reiterated by Aldo Bisio, CEO of Vodafone Italia. For Bisio, the presence of a single operator must be able to bring an added value, otherwise the move to a single operator would be unjustified.
Open Fiber, an independent and neutral network to reduce criticalities
During the day's meetings, Franco Bassanini, president of Open Fiber, also illustrated how the need for an independent and wholesale network, just like the one he represents, is increasingly strong. Moreover, Bassanini underlined the giant steps made by Open Fiber in the last years, in spite of bureaucratic criticalities: "Open Fiber is a new entry that is less than 4 years old; for our birthday we will get to connect 10 million real estate units, half of what our industrial plan foresees; certainly we went faster in the cities than in the areas with market failure and this is a problem".
"The hypothesis of a single vertically integrated network controlled by a dominant operator - added Bassanini - presents many criticalities: among which one of regulatory level for the authorizations that it must receive from antitrust authorities. For many years I have been among those who maintain that a single infrastructure on which to concentrate all investments to have it as advanced as possible is the best solution, [...] an independent, neutral and third-party infrastructure at the service of all operators, the wholesale only model that Open Fiber has adopted".