Making Italy a future-proof society, able to resist and if possible ride the great global changes. A dream or perhaps not, but enough to debate on, as happened yesterday afternoon at the Luiss University, in the setting of Villa Blanc, venue of the 'Gigabit society' conference, attended by, in addition to the host Paolo Boccardelli, director of the Luiss Business School, politicians and telecommunications representatives.
It is not easy to imagine an entirely technological society in a country, Italy, still made up of medieval villages. Yet the challenge can be met, just by putting together the right ingredients and mixing them properly. "There are essentially four challenges," Boccardelli made clear in his welcoming address. "Infrastructure, demand and the environment. Especially the second one tends to be lacking today, also due to a certain lack of digital education. While the third element is closely linked to the second'.
Among those who took part in the debate was the Forza Italia MP, Deborah Bergaminiwho emphasised the legislative gaps. "We have not yet managed to make, I am speaking from a parliamentary point of view, this issue of digitisation a priority and urgent one. This is really a pity because it is a huge opportunity. An opportunity that many other countries have exploited. Today Italy lacks a real vision of the problem'. According to Bergamini, 'the strongest push in this sense can come from the contents and their quality. A quality that can be increased above all through competition, which, however, is lacking in this country today'.
A more financial approach came instead from Laura CastelliMember of Parliament of the Five Star Movement. "I would like to talk about the money, if politics wants to do digitisation then it has to find the money to do it. One way? I am thinking of the reform of the participated companies, which would be an example in this sense'. More generally, according to Castelli, 'politics is very late in this sense. I am thinking of the 5.7 billion earmarked for the so-called Digital Agenda and still lying there unused. We need real political will if we are to achieve all this'.
Words that brought to mind the recent European alarm about the completion of the gigabit society. Namely, that the European Commission's plan to achieve the full digitisation of Europe by 2025 might fail. According to data released by Anthony Whelan of the EU agency DG Connect, in fact, more than EUR 150 billion are missing to finish laying the cables for fibre-to-the-home (Ftth) connections, which would bring ultrabroadband connections directly into the homes of European citizens. The operators would only have planned investments of 350 billion, but at least 500 billion would be needed to complete the project. The risk is the accentuation of the digital divide between rural and more urbanised areas.
The Pentastellata deputy then addressed the issue of the network, in particular the possible creation of the network society. "The entry of Cdp It is good that it has arrived, even if it is a move that does not solve the problem. The network, we have always maintained, must be Italian and in public hands. The Cassa's intervention is not a solution'. The network, is the sense of the Grillo reasoning, is something too important to be worth a 5% of Tim's capital (the share of the tlc company acquired by Cdp).
Cinzia BonfriscoLeague Senator (here the interview a Ants.net), instead shifted the focus to 'the need to valorise current network assets, such as Infocamere and Sogei. Imagine what it would mean if someone were to get their hands on them?". Hence a heartfelt appeal for 'all Italian companies to have equal access to the network. In this sense, I welcome the fact that the Cassa has raised the issue of the sovereignty of such an important infrastructure. I always agree when the issue of national interest is raised'.
Source: http://formiche.net/2018/04/luiss-digitale-rete-tim-cdp/
