Design and build ultra-fast networks to support the economic development and digital transformation of territories. With this objective FiberCop – we read in a note – accelerates fiber optics in Calabria and intensifies the cabling interventions envisaged by the ‘Italy 1 Giga Plan’ as part of the Pnrr.
The investment in Calabria with a total value of approximately 742 million euros – of which 519 million euros through Pnrr funds to which are added 223 million direct investments by FiberCop – is part of the program of interventions envisaged by Lots 5 and 11 of of the announcement.
«The new infrastructure we are building will allow browsing at the speed of 1 Gigabit per second – declared Roberto Chiappini, head of Operations South Area of FiberCop – which means enabling a wide range of digital services from which citizens, businesses and administrations will be able to benefit local: among these smart working, HD streaming, telemedicine and typical smart city services such as the management of traffic flows, public lighting and environmental monitoring. This is a large-scale intervention that requires the collaboration of all the parties involved, i.e. institutions, local authorities and businesses, and particular attention also to the orographic characteristics of the territory”.
To date the works have already started in 294 municipalities in the region, divided as follows at provincial level: 71 Catanzaro, 113 Cosenza, 18 Crotone, 54 Reggio Calabria and 38 Vibo Valentia. 190,662 houses have already been connected out of the 341,378 expected by June 2026, or approximately 56% of the total.
The objective of the Plan is to bring ultra-fast connections to all 404 Calabrian municipalities by June 2026. FiberCop thus confirms its attention to Calabria where it is present with around 600 employees and 16 offices and operational headquarters. Furthermore, the construction sites started involve around 1,000 workers from the network companies operating in the area. Around 560 telephone exchanges are located in the region, from which voice and data connections start and reach Calabrian homes and businesses.
The further boost to infrastructure activities is a consequence of the decision of the FiberCop Board of Directors which approved a plan of approximately 1.4 billion euros of investments for the second half of 2024 with the aim of accelerating the development of the fiber network optics throughout Italy.
As part of the public intervention plans envisaged by the Italian Strategy for Ultra-Broadband, FiberCop was awarded 7 lots of the ‘Italy 1 Gigà Plan’ tender for a total of 10 regions, including Calabria, plus the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.