Huawei and Fastweb have signed an agreement for a multi-year cooperation for research and development of advanced technologies for ultra-broadband. The agreement will remain in effect for 5 years. The agreement has been signed today at Palazzo Chigi by Alberto Calcagno, CEO of Fastweb and Ji Ping, Executive Chairman of Huawei, in the presence of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti and Jia Qinglin, Chairman of Chinese National Political Consultative Conference.
This Memorandum of Understanding will concern the research and the use of advanced technologies and innovative services to end-users, and the research on new technologies for the next generation networks on which is focused Fastweb NGN project. The operator is finalizing its ultra-bradband network that will reach 5.5 million households and business sites by 2014, bringing new services to 20% of the country, and will strongly contribute to reach the objectives of the Digital Agenda, providing at least half of the households with access to 100 megabits per second by 2020. The agreement with Huawei aims at increasing the performance of existing technologies, which now reach up to 100 megabits per second, but in the coming years will be able to reach speeds of up to 10 times faster, making the Fastweb networks capable of delivering enhanced speeds in the future.
The agreement is part of an intensive innovation and development activity carried out by the two companies in Italy: Fastweb, which relies on a fiber optic network of over 33,000 km and has invested 6 billion euros since its establishment, has provided investments in innovation and network development of around 2 billion euros over the next four years. Huawei greatly contributes to the development of broadband and ultra-broadband networks (both mobile and fixed), with all the Italian Telecom operators.
"Huawei will continue and strongly reaffirm its commitment in Italy. This agreement is another important example of investment in the technological excellence for the country. The availability of ultrafast telecommunications infrastructures, that are to be adequate to the top countries of the world, is a pre-requisite for the growth of Italy. This has also been emphasized by recent laws approved by the Italian Government and strongly hoped-for by Huawei, "claimed Roberto Loiola, Vice President Huawei Western Europe.
"The cooperation with Huawei, will bring new technological solutions in order to provide a growing speed on our networks - breaking the wall of 100 megabits per second currently achievable in VDSL -. This is expected to be a longterm project: by 2014 it will reach 20% of the population with a network that supports up to 100 megs. In the second phase of our project the NGN will implement new technologies that will extend up to 10 times the bandwidth using the existing infrastructure, going beyond the objectives of the Digital Agenda. It is a commitment that Fastweb undertakes with its clients: to develop their services and their performance to offer the best Internet solutions in Italy, now and in the future. The partnership with Huawei was founded by a philosophy of active collaboration with our suppliers, which are the real partners. The agreement signed with Huawei is the first important MoU in the NGN and it will be followed by other agreements, "said Alberto Calcagno, General Manager of Fastweb.