Tlc, ultra-broadband and 5G weigh the deadlines to 2024

Listen to the audio version of the article

The broadband construction sites, but also the national Cloud. Concerns are growing about the real possibility of closing the main projects of the Pnrr on digital within the set times.

The 1 Giga (fibre optic) and 5G Italy plans require compliance with the coverage set by the tenders by mid-2026, but there are half-yearly interim deadlines at increasing levels. And those of 2024 envisaged by the tender documents, especially for the fixed network, will already be very demanding (40%), also in light of the lack of specialized manpower in laying the fiber, a problem raised several times by the operators involved.

Allocated 5.05 billion

In total, the tenders for the “fast connections” package of the Pnrr awarded 5.05 billion, producing savings compared to the starting base of 1.2 billion (1.5 billion compared to the Strategy initially conceived by the former Minister of Innovation Vittorio Colao ). It is urgent to decide whether to confirm the destination of these leftovers, which a rule passed by the Draghi Executive provides for the contractors to at least partially cover the extra costs of raw materials.

The national strategic pole to be tested within the year

A completely different matter for the national strategic pole, entrusted to the Tim-Cdp-Leonardo-Sogei consortium with the public-private partnership formula, which will have to host the most critical data of the Public Administration in cloud mode. There is an immediate deadline, i.e. the technical testing of the data centers by December 31, 2022 and according to some suppliers it will not be so obvious to cross the finish line.

There is no obligation for the PA

And there is a longer-term goal, the migration by 2026 of the PAs involved (public resources are equal to 900 million) which, however, at least as regards the less strategic administrations, could also choose to migrate as an alternative to the PSN on the cloud of one of the market operators who will have been previously certified.