Taken from The Broadband Coverage in Europe 2023 Report - a study prepared for the European Commission DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology
by OMDIA and Point Topic Ltd.
National coverage by broadband technology
At the end of June 2023, very nearly all Italian households were covered by at least one fixed broadband network, with the exception of less than 0.1% of rural households to which fixed broadband connectivity was not available. In terms of NGA broadband, high speed broadband services based on NGA technologies were available to 98.4% of Italian households, and to 93.6% of rural Italian households. In both categories (fixed broadband and NGA), Italy recorded coverage levels above the EU average. Fixed Very High Capacity networks, i.e. FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1, passed 59.6% of Italian households at a national level, and 37.7% of rural households. In the absence of cable networks in Italy, this coverage equals FTTP coverage. VHCN coverage as defined by the BEREC rules reached 92.9% of all households and 75.8% of rural households, both categories acceding EU average levels.
Looking at individual technologies, DSL remained the most widespread broadband technology in Italy, with an almost-universal coverage level (99.8% of households passed). Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services were available universally across the country.
In terms of NGA broadband technologies, the Italian market remained largely dominated by VDSL, which was available to 96.4% of households, largely unchanged since mid-2022. In Italy, the nature of the legacy copper network grid, with large number of cabinets positioned close to customer premises means that the VDSL network is capable of reaching speeds higher than 100Mbps. In order to not skew the results unfavourably the research team has decided to classify those households close enough to the cabinet to receive at least 100Mbps coverage as passed by VDSL2 Vectoring. At the end of June 2023, these services were available to 70.6% of Italian households, again largely unchanged compared to previous year’s study.
Given the absence of cable networks (DOCSIS 3.0 or DOCSIS 3.1) in Italy, FTTP remained the only other NGA technology available to Italian households. FTTP coverage increased by 9.5 percentage points over the study period, reaching 59.6% of households. Despite this increase, FTTP coverage in Italy remained below the EU average of 64.0%.
In terms of mobile broadband coverage, 5G services were available to 99.5% of households. In terms of 5G coverage in the 3.4–3.8 GHz frequency band, Italy ranked second (behind Finland) with 88.3% homes passed.
In rural areas, DSL remained the key technology providing fixed broadband access. At the end of June 2023, DSL was available to 98.9% of rural households, whereas FWA was accessible to 99.9% of rural households. VDSL remains the leading rural NGA technology reaching 87.1% of rural households, while VDSL2 Vectoring was available to 34.4% of rural households. Rural FTTP coverage increased by 11.3 percentage points over the study period. Yet, despite this increase rural FTTP coverage remained well below the EU average, with 37.7% of rural Italian homes passed.
Rural 5G coverage reached 98.3% of rural homes and more than two thirds (68.9%) of rural Italian households had access to 5G services utilizing the 3.4–3.8 GHz frequency band.
Regional coverage by broadband technology
Looking at Italian regions, 21 regions (out of 108) scored higher than 65% fixed VHCN (FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1) coverage– an increase compared to just 13 regions in mid-2022. Most regions recorded coverage between 35–65%, but in 11 regions (particularly on the island of Sardinia) the low coverage of FTTP and absence of any cable networks meant that coverage remained below 35%.
Since there are no DOCSIS 3.1 services in Italy, the FTTP coverage is identical to fixed VHCN (FTTP & DOCSIS 3.1) coverage category.
Rural fibre coverage improved considerably compared to mid-2022 and while at the end of June 2022 rural fixed VHCN coverage was below 35% in most Italian regions, in mid-2023 most regions recorded rural coverage levels higher than 35%.
Data tables for Italy
Note: The 2023 figures represent the state of broadband coverage at the end of June 2023. The 2022 (end of June) and 2021 (end of June) figures are drawn from the previous studies conducted by IHS Markit, Omdia, and Point Topic.
All restatements are highlighted in italics.
Taken from The Broadband Coverage in Europe 2023 Report - a study prepared for the European Commission DG Communications Networks, Content & Technology
by OMDIA and Point Topic Ltd.
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