Many battles have been fought over the years by Assoprovider, many battles that we want to share and communicate through the podcast \"Battaglie della Rete\", created with the contribution of SICE Telecom, TP Link, and AVM and the editorial support of Radio IT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first two episodes of the podcast have already been broadcast, which we summarize here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A group of young people gathering in a basement of the Roman political buildings: this is the genesis of Assoprovider in Rome, in 1999. Those young people wanted to fight battles against power dynamics and division, against the big players carrier<\/em> and telephone companies, to the detriment of small providers, who instead wanted to spread the Internet throughout Italy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is the battle, indeed, against the digital divide, that gap between areas, and therefore people, who have access to a fast connection and those who do not. Independent providers, today as in the past, contribute to bringing the Internet – and therefore culture and development – to those businesses, entities, schools, and individuals where large operators often do not reach, because these are market failure areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the \"trench of independence,\" today Assoprovider includes 250 companies, with a total of 2,500 employees and an aggregated turnover of 250 million euros per year, serving 700,000 users throughout Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur battle, that of abolishing the digital divide, has as a corollary a second objective: to promote the harmonious development of the Internet in Italy.<\/em>, explains Antonella Oliviero, Assoprovider board member, during the podcast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, this battle is mainly focused on the costs of licensed frequencies for small operators. Assoprovider has already submitted an amendment on this topic to Annex 10 of the Communications Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The annex imposes a cost on licensed frequencies of as much as 6,000 euros per year, which is unsustainable for a small provider that offers Internet services sometimes to only ten users who can afford an expense of about 3\/400 euros annually. Users who cannot turn elsewhere, precisely because independent providers reach areas where large operators have no interest in investing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only that. Large companies in the sector are further advantaged by the law: those who use more frequencies receive a 75% discount on the administrative fee, thus paying 1,500 euros per year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To make a comparison, finally, the same type of contribution amounts to about 700 euros per year in France, almost ten times less than the Italian one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are talking about a public good<\/em>, explains Dino Bortolotto, president of Assoprovider, \u201cwhich therefore should be managed in a fair and non-discriminatory manner. However, in reality, Annex 10, by setting such a quantity discount, becomes incompatible with the concept of 'non-discrimination'.\"<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a battle that concerns everyone, because, as Bortolotto further explains, \"we believe that competition is beneficial for the market and especially for end users<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here to listen to the first episode:<\/p>\n\n\n\n