ROME: The collaboration between EOLO and TIM will be further enhanced by the deployment of ultrabroadband. The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to launch a strategic partnership project in Italy’s ‘white areas’ in which EOLO - Italian benefit leader in the provision of ultrabroadband connectivity through fixed wireless access (FWA) technology - will be able to provide wholesale internet access services to TIM. The agreement leverages on EOLO’s ultrabroadband coverage, which currently already reaches over 6,500 Italian municipalities and 79% of homes in rural or low-density areas.

The agreement also provides for the launch of a trial by the end of October, aiming to carry out the appropriate analyses and field tests and define the technical and operating procedures for the provision of EOLO wholesale services on TIM’s network.

Luigi Gubitosi, TIM’s CEO, stated: “We are very pleased to be signing this agreement, which strengthens and consolidates our relationship with a valuable partner such as EOLO. The understanding, in addition to confirming our commitment and desire to become the driving force in the country’s digitisation process, will also enable us to start testing, as a consortium, new ways of accessing FWA services, improving our capacity to contribute to the objectives of the ‘Italia a 1 Giga’ plan which is part of the government’s strategy in the deployment of Ultrabroadband. We are certain that thanks to partnerships of this magnitude we will foster the spread of connectivity among citizens, businesses and the Public Administration, at the same time supporting the development of the digital skills necessary for the country’s growth.”

Luca Spada, President and founder of EOLO said: “We are delighted to extend our collaboration with TIM, which has been our strategic partner for years in the provision of optical fibre to EOLO’s backbone network. The partnership with TIM represents an important step in EOLO’s development plan, in which the wholesale market will play an increasingly central and strategic role in providing ultrabroadband services for rural and suburban areas of Italy. FWA has played an undeniably key role in bridging the digital divide over the years and, in a prospective sense, represents the only viable alternative for offering very high-capacity services in all those areas where it is not technically or financially feasible to build a wired fibre network.

It’s for these reasons that we have decided to extend our wholesale offer to consumer customers (B2C), leveraging on our far-reaching network and on the development of both product and process innovation throughout the production chain”.