ENEL OPEN FIBER AND THE CITY OF BARI JOIN FORCES FOR DIGITALISATION

Enel Open Fiber’s plan for Bari envisages coverage of about 120,000 premises by September 2018 Fibre optic cabling, which can support download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps, will be brought into customers’ homes via Fibre to the Home (FTTH) method

Bari, November 15th, 2016 – The City of Bari and Enel Open Fiber (EOF), the Enel Group company for the development of an Italian ultra-broadband infrastructure, have presented today the agreement that will allow fibre optic cables to be laid across the entire city. Presenting the agreement and the ongoing project were the Mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro (the new president of the National Association of Italian Municipalities, ANCI), and EOF CEO Tommaso Pompei.

EOF’s plan for Bari envisages the coverage of 50% of premises by September 2017 and 80% by September 2018, for a total of about 120,000 units connected via cable and about 600 km of network, of which 400 km underground. The planned investment will be about 40 million euros.

“Bari is one of five Italian cities selected to inaugurate this innovative project, which will give thousands of Bari residents access to a very high quality connection directly in their homes”, said Bari mayor Antonio Decaro. “It is a major investment for our city, which in the past few months has been tackling a series of key challenges in technological innovation. We are in fact trying to implement a small digital revolution with the dematerialisation of the city’s administrative services: yesterday the 2016 Digital Agenda Prize was awarded to the City of Bari for the e-gov.ba platform, which enables the public to access a range of online services directly from their home computers. The two projects will come together to forge a single way ahead, making Bari a smarter city. With the Enel Open Fiber plan, we have moved forward in the construction of a more technologically aware community that is in step with the transformation under way in Italy”. 

“I would like to thank the City of Bari and emphasise its active contribution in signing the agreement that inaugurated the operational phase of the project in the city,” said EOF CEO Tommaso Pompei. “Cooperation with local authorities is a key element of accelerating the process of installing infrastructure and rapidly rolling out ultra-broadband for all of Bari’s citizens and businesses.”

The installation of the fibre optics will mainly use the city’s existing underground utilities infrastructure in order to ensure financial sustainability and save on space. Where this is not possible, the project will open micro-worksites. The fibre optics, which can support download and upload speeds of 1 Gbps, will be brought to the customer’s home via the Fibre to the Home (FTTH) method. Cable laying operations will benefit from the support of the City of Bari to ensure speedy completion of the work.

In this early stage of the partnership, EOF has entered into separate contracts with the main operators in Italy concerning the cabling of the first 10 cities provided for in its ultra-broadband development plan.

The agreements provide for the operators to activate customers on the network that EOF will create, guaranteeing coverage for at least 80% of each city’s premises within the time frame indicated in the roll-out plan. EOF will also handle the operation and maintenance of the new infrastructure.


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EOF- Comune di Bari ENG

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