Fastweb has become the fifth Italian mobile operator following the release of the general authorization by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development. The company has thus consolidated its position as a convergent operator, completing the transition from MVNO to an infrastructure-based mobile player.
" The Italian Ministry of Economic Development authorization marks the conclusive step by which we add the last piece to our convergent strategy", declared Alberto Calcagno, Fastweb CEO. "We have always been a fixed-line operator with a cutting-edge fibre-optic network and now we are also becoming a mobile operator by leveraging all our infrastructural assets in order to play a leading role in the run up towards the 5G".
In 2016 Fastweb set out on the path that led it to obtain the authorization as a mobile infrastructure operator with the first agreement signed with Tiscali, which allowed it to use the latter's frequencies in urban areas. With the second agreement reached last summer, Fastweb definitively acquired Tiscali's frequency package, that is 40 MHz in the 3.5-3.6 GHz band., and additional 200 MHz in the 26 GHz band, was acquired during the recent 5G auction. Starting from 2020, this frequency portfolio will allow Fastweb to rapidly deploy a 5G network, also thanks to the co-investment agreement signed with Wind Tre at the end of June.