WindTre is ready to launch the first 5G offers by the end of the year in 70 Italian municipalities: it is working to have a stable network architecture
By the end of 2020 WindTre could activate its new fast 5G network in 10 Italian capitals, to reach 70 cities by the end of 2021. This was stated by the Tlc company's CEO Jeffrey Hedberg in an interview with Quotidiano Nazionale.
According to Hedberg, in fact, the Covid-19 emergency didn't slow down the network's development much because, fortunately, the company had already certified its current cellular network as "5G Ready Top Quality." During the highest data traffic phase of the lockdown, the one during which there was a boom in video calling and smartworking, WindTre's network held up well to increases in mobile traffic of 40% (and 60% in landline traffic). To date, therefore, WindTre has about 20,000 transmission sites ready for the upgrade to 5G present on the Italian territory.
A great opportunity
In the interview with QN Jeffrey Hedberg explains that the new 5G network is a "great opportunity and a guarantee for the growth and development of the country-system, a global revolution that can see Italy among the protagonists because here the experimentation started in a timely manner. The new technology will make it possible to accommodate the growing traffic, which soon 4G networks will no longer be able to handle, but above all we will be able to do things that are not possible today". Like telemedicine and mass smartworking, to make just the two easiest examples to understand.
The PA variant
The real doubt, in the development of WindTre's (and all other operators') 5G network, is the speed of response of the Public Administration. Of the bureaucracy, in essence. Hedberg explains: "It is necessary that the Public Administration and local politics do their part because very often the permits for the plants take too long to arrive and many mayors are giving in to the pressure of a movement against 5G. We have all appreciated the role of the networks in these difficult months, how is it possible that there are those who want to block progress and make us go backwards?"
A national plan
Finally, and this is no coincidence given the recent discussion of the Colao Plan at the States General of the Economy, the CEO of WindTre speaks of the need for a "plan for growth, enabled by ultrabroadband networks, digital technologies and investment in people and talent. Resources that Italy certainly does not lack". The reference, clear and direct, is to the large section of the Colao Plan in which he hopes to create a favorable environment (which according to Colao must also include public contributions) for the development of the fiber optic network and 5G.