On Thursday 21 January, the European Commission authorised public support of €325 million to provide 12,000 schools in Italy with very high-speed Internet connections. The schools benefitting from the measure are located in regions with insufficient connectivity, in line with the EU’s broadband connectivity objectives.
The Italian scheme aims to promote the deployment of a network to provide Italian schools with uplink and downlink speeds of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). The measure targets schools where no broadband network offering download speed above 300 megabits per second (Mbps) is currently in place or planned in the near future. Italy considers that very high-speed internet connection is necessary to provide online educational services.
The Commission concluded that the scheme’s positive effects on competition and on broadband connectivity, in particular for schools, outweigh potential negative effects brought about by the public intervention.
On this basis, the Commission concluded that the scheme is in line with EU State Aid rules and contributes to the EU strategic objectives set out in the Digital Agenda for Europe. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)