Italian internet service provider (ISP) FastWeb has signed an agreement to test broadband technologies in conjunction with Telecom Italia (TI). The firms are to work on equipment to improve maximum download speeds on traditional copper telephone lines as an alternative to replacing copper lines with fibre equipment. ‘We want to exploit all our capabilities to increase the speed of the network,’ Telecom Italia’s chairman, Giuseppe Recchi, told Reuters.
In September 2012 FastWeb signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TI for cooperation on the development of their next generation fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) networks under which they said they would ‘identify and exploit opportunities in areas of common interest to optimise costs and investments, by sharing existing passive infrastructure and coordinating their efforts to speed the rollout of fibre optic equipment’.
Separately, TI has awarded a contract to Canada-based software developer Sandvine for its service operations centre (SOC) and customer experience management (CEM) platforms. TI, a Sandvine customer since 2012, is using data generated by the vendor’s Business Intelligence and Usage Management products to generate key performance indicators (KPIs) for its fixed and mobile networks in Italy. The data is fed by Sandvine’s Record Generator directly to big data and SOC/CEM systems used by TI’s internal operations, planning and marketing teams.
