The Italian government’s implementing body for the scheme, Infratel, announced that Telecom Italia (TIM) would be the first company to receive the funding.
The money will be used to provide more than 10,000 base stations with a fibre backhaul connection by June 2026. The government will fund up to 90% of the cost of this infrastructure.
Funds for the programme will be provided by the European Commission’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The EU approved Italy’s infrastructure plan in April.
The Italian government first announced it would be providing incentives for 5G infrastructure in March, but it recently relaunched the scheme in late May due to a lack of interest from mobile operators.
A total of six lots are available with each requiring operators to cover different underserved regions in Italy.
