Italy approves plan to boost broadband networks
The Italian government approved a plan on Tuesday to bring its high-speed broadband network into line with European Union targets, but it held back from forcing operators to replace their copper-wire networks with fiber-optic cable. Italy faces growing pressure to strengthen its telecommunications infrastructure and digital sector to help improve the performance of an economy that has been in virtual stagnation for two decades. “We are creating a plan to give our country the digital infrastructure, the digital highways like any other European country,” Industry Minister Federica Guidi told reporters.