Italy’s TIM SpA has named five domestically based companies as suppliers for the fiber optic cables to be needed by its fixed network business, FiberCorp, for the next two years.
A press release said that the suppliers—Ecotel, Metallurgica Bresciana, Prysmian, Technikabel and Tratos—will supply TIM’s FiberCorp entity, which wants to connect 76% of underserved regions by 2025. Through a complex organization plan, the goal is to create a single access network in Italy, that will see FiberCorp merge with Open Fiber, the state-owned infrastructure company created by utility Enel and investment bank—and TIM shareholder—Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). TIM will deploy fixed wireless access to the areas not covered by the FiberCorp plan in 2022.
The release said that winning companies confirmed that the development of the cables, the cut to length, quality control and storage will all be carried out within their company, at production and certification facilities and warehouses situated on national territory. “With this operation, TIM confirms its commitment in support of the country and its entrepreneurial fabric, with the aim of optimizing the excellence and quality of Italian production to develop a strategic infrastructure for digitization, which demands top performance and efficiency.”
FiberCorp has already taken the first steps to build its own network, closing and assigning the first of the two tenders for the supply of fiber optic cables. Tratos announced that it has won a €20 million fiber cable order.