INWIT and UNCEM together to reduce the digital divide
Memorandum of Understanding signed for the digital infrastructure of municipalities and mountain communities
The development and improvement of the use of digital services for municipalities, unions and mountain communities, helping to reduce the digital divide and build a more inclusive, digital and sustainable ‘Smart Italy’. This is the objective of the memorandum of understanding signed by INWIT, the first Italian tower operator, and UNCEM, the National Union of Mountain Communities.
The Memorandum of Understanding
The memorandum of understanding envisages the application of the simplification measures envisaged in the Electronic Communications Code, of those aimed at favouring the construction of facilities on municipal areas, and the definition of more rapid procedures from an administrative point of view for the issuance of the relevant authorisations, thus seeking to speed up the digital infrastructure of the territory. 900 are the areas in which the agreement applies, currently in a digital divide, among the UNCEM member administrations that are also part of the PNRR’s Italy 5G Plan, in which new mobile telecommunications infrastructures will be built.
The agreement also envisages the installation on INWIT towers, distributed in UNCEM areas, of some IoT solutions for environmental and territorial monitoring. Connectivity will also be improved through DAS (Distributed Antenna System) micro-antenna systems for indoor areas, such as hospitals, sports halls and tunnels, and small cells for some outdoor areas, such as historical centres, refuges and tourist resorts.
The potential of collaboration
A partnership that underlines the potential of the collaboration between INWIT and UNCEM. INWIT, with more than 23 thousand towers distributed capillarily throughout the territory, is able to offer diversified services by exploiting the potential of its assets in a “tower as a service” logic. UNCEM, present in every regional reality with its own delegation that groups and represents wholly and partially mountain municipalities, mountain communities and Unions of mountain municipalities, for a territorial basin equal to 54%.
The memorandum of understanding signed with UNCEM is another step taken towards establishing digital infrastructure in the country and building a Smart Italy with simple procedures and full collaboration between INWIT and local authorities, also in support of important development plans such as the “Italia 5G” Plan of the NRRP.
Diego Galli, General Manager of INWIT
As UNCEM, we are honoured by this agreement, which helps us create an effective and tangible path to reduce the digital divide, a very important issue for us. In order to move in this direction, it is necessary to make good use of the available economic resources, build a digital culture, and focus on modern infrastructure for the benefit of all, particularly the mountainous areas of the country, where inequalities are considerable. With INWIT, I am confident that we will be able to work intensively, as we have already done, for communities and local authorities
Marco Bussone, UNCEM President
INWIT’s commitment against the digital divide
INWIT was awarded, in June 2022, in RTI with TIM and Vodafone Italia, the tender for the granting of public subsidies under the ‘Italia 5G’ Plan, for the construction of new network infrastructures suitable for providing mobile radio services in 1,200 areas of market failure. Inwit also signed an agreement with Open Fiber for the coverage of more than 600 municipalities throughout the country with FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) technology in 2022.