Telecom Italia brings FTTC network to more cities

Telecom Italia (NYSE: TI) on Tuesday said it has launched its Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC) services in three cities this month—Rome, Turin and Naples.

Beginning today, eligible customers will be able to get speeds of up to 30/3 Mbps from the hybrid copper/fiber service that will use VDSL2 to connect to the customer premises.

The telco also plans to provide speeds of up to 80 and even 100 Mbps. Of course, the actual speed a user will get depends on how far a residence or a business is from the nearest Remote Terminal (RT) cabinet where the remote DSLAM equipment resides.  

Over the course of the next few weeks, Telecom Italia plans to begin marketing the new FTTC service to Milan, Genoa, Bologna and Bari, with plans to unveil business service packages in January.

As of this week, TI said that the fiber rollout is at an "advanced stage" in 31 cities, including its three new cities of Rome, Turin, and Naples, as well as Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Venice, Florence, Padua, and several others.

Telecom Italia has grand ambitions for its FTTC plan. By the end of 2014, it plans to cover 6 million people, or 25 percent of the population.

To reach its FTTC network goals, Telecom Italia is jointly building out the network with FastWeb, which is owned by Switzerland's incumbent telco Swisscom.

This new FTTC network will complement the 100 Mbps-capable Fiber to the Home (FTTH) networks being built by Telecom Italia and FastWeb.

For more:
- Telecompaper has this article

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