The Italian government’s Infratel agency has launched tenders worth EUR2 billion (USD2.2 billion) for the rollout of 5G technology in rural areas which will not be covered by the commercial deployments of the country’s cellcos. The contracts, which will see the government providing up to 90% of the rollout costs, call for the installation of fibre-optic infrastructure to connect more than 10,000 existing mobile tower sites and the construction of new 5G sites in over 2,000 locations.
The government wants the entire country to have access to mobile broadband speeds of at least 150Mbps by 2026. The EUR2 billion funding is on top of the EUR3.7 billion already earmarked to support the upgrade of fixed broadband services across Italy, the EUR600 million set aside to connect schools, and the EUR45 million allocated to reach smaller islands.
Source: https://www.commsupdate.com/articles/2022/03/23/italy-launches-5g-tenders-worth-eur2bn/