Telecom Italia announces that as of 3 August, in keeping with the agreed time frame established by the Italian Communications Authority, the areas set aside in 150 exchanges, part of the first lot of 432 exchanges that other operators applied for in late March, are now available.
Although 559 exchanges were initially identified, 81 were eliminated in the evaluation phase by the phone companies themselves as they were no longer considered to be interesting and another 46 because they did not meet the necessary technical requirements.
A further 220 exchanges (48 in Milan and 50 in Rome) will be consigned at the end of August since the Communications Authority gave its authorizationat a later date than for those covered by the ruling 13/00/CIR or because additional time was necessary to obtain required supplementary authorizations and permits from some local bodies to carry out construction work.
The remaining 62 exchanges in the first lot will be made available gradually and in any event by October. For these the authorizations and operations will be even more complex as a result of the special nature of the areas concerned (such as building permits in seismic zones, which technically require more time).
The exchanges handed over on the 3rd of August are available to operators who already have an official contract with Telecom Italia to access the buildings concerned. Of these 150 exchanges, 120 are situated in major Italian cities, of which 20 in Rome, 20 in Milan, 15 in Naples and 18 in Turin.
With this consignment Telecom Italia affirms its commitment to the agreed time frame for the liberalization process of the last mile, a fundamental step towards the complete liberalization of the fixed telephone market.