(Finance) – Open Fiber proceeds with great strides in theimplementation of its business plan and made a new record of 2 thousand kilometers of infrastructurelaying the foundation for the “turning point” in the White Areas in 2023. This is what was explained in an interview with Qn da Guido Bertinettia long-time manager with a great deal of experience in the sector, who joined the CEO Mario Rossetti team just four months ago Network & Operations Director. An experience that he defines as “exciting” and “positive” thanks to the motivation and skills he has found in the Group. In Italy the manager expects to capitalize on the experiences gained abroad, bringing a multicultural approach centered on the empowerment of people.
Summing up the results achieved by OFthe manager recalled that the company itself is awarded 8 lots out of 14 in the tenders for the Gray Areasthe most profitable ones where there is a single network operator ?, and have been tightened a number of important agreements commercial: with TIM for the sharing of infrastructures and with INWIT to strengthen the FWA.
The lots awarded to OF – explains Bertinetti – involve approx 3,881 municipalities for a total of approx 3.3 million real estate units, to which another 3 million real estate units in the commercial gray areas will be added, for which no public intervention is envisaged. In total it aims to reach 25 million between homes, offices, businesses and offices of the PA investing over 15 billion.
The manager then cited the plan developed with MISE and Infratelwhich secures EU ERDF funds, with the aim of implementing the plan on White Areas, that is, in rural or isolated municipalities where the absence of adequate connectivity determines a heavy digital divide. “The White Areas are a priority”, underlined the manager, underlining “here our commitment is one social mission even before industrial“. At the end of 2021, about 38 thousand kilometers of infrastructure had been built out of the total 85 thousand of the entire project in the White Areas, while in 2022 the aim is to build over 18 thousand, that is half of what was done in the previous four years.
“For the past four monthsThey were over 500 municipalities closed and we currently have over 1,000 construction sites open. In seven months we have put 500 thousand real estate units in FTTH and within the end of the year furthermore, the tender procedures for the award of works, services and supplies of materials for a total amount of about 900 million of euro “, explains Bertinetti, assuring that” 2023 will be the year of the decisive turning point in the White Areas “.
The manager also spoke of the shortage of manpower which haunts the infrastructure and construction sector, recalling that to date 8,000 people are employed, including direct and indirect employees, but there is a need to double them. “To give a concrete answer – explains the Head of Network & Operations of OF – we decided to change the existing paradigm giving life to Open Fiber Network Solutionsa consortium with the ASPI Group for hiring and training teams of technicians internally“.
Speaking of upcoming challenges Bertinetti explained that it is hoped to “reach the objectives of the White Areasin combination with the launch of the Gray Areas, also through the continuation improvement of the operational and management efficiency of the supply chain. But also to make Open Fiber an increasingly data driven company, a digital transformation that finds fertile ground in a young and agile reality like ours “.