In the so-called white areas, the most remote and least populous areas of the country covered by the Piano BUL (Ultra Broadband), Open Fiber operates as a public concessionaire for FTTH coverage of over 6,000 Europen municipalities. At the end of September 2023, Open Fiber announces that it has built 78% of the infrastructure and completed the work in 74% of the municipalities involved (over 4,600 out of approximately 6,200), cabling approximately 5 million real estate units with fiber optics. Today the company, owned by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Macquarie Group, presented Open Fiber RealCitya solution that will speed up the development of fiber optic projects thanks also to much more precise planning.
The progress of the Open Fiber works
A wholesale operator struggling with the creation of a completely fiber optic network, Open Fiber is not only committed to coverage of the white areas (where until now no telecommunications company had carried out infrastructure adaptation work). The company has in fact been awarded 8 lots (out of a total of 9 regions) of the Europe 1 Giga Plan: this is a new state investment to achieve with 1 Gbps optical fiber or more the gray and black areas of the country (where at least 300 Mbps downstream is not and will not be available today and until 2026). With the Europe 1 Giga Plan, the Government intends to bring the data forward to 2026 connectivity goals Gigabit set by Europe to 2026 (Digital Compass).
On the occasion of theAnci national assembly, which took place on 25 October, representatives of Open Fiber illustrated to local administrators the activities of the Europe 1 Giga Plan and the details of an agreement signed by the operators active in the digital development plans financed by the PNRR (Europe 1 Giga and Europe 5G). The agreement, which involves Anci, the Department for Digital Transformation and Infratel Europe, provides operational agreements that will regulate the process of construction of infrastructure at a territorial level, ensuring faster implementation of projects.
What is Open Fiber Realcity and how it works
With the precise objective of streamlining the construction of FTTH fiber optic infrastructures (Fiber-to-the-Home), Open Fiber also presented Realcity, a software platform thanks to which it is possible to navigate a real three-dimensional model of the territory, carrying out remote measurements and surveys. Open Fiber Realcity makes the design phase faster, more efficient and sustainable by generating a sort of Digital Twin (Digital Twin) of the cities and small municipalities to be wired.
Bringing a network built entirely of fiber optics across the country is an operation that requires several phases. Among these, one of the most important and delicate is that of design, during which Open Fiber carries out the activity of collecting useful information for the definition of the project: the count of buildings to be wired, the number of real estate units (UI) inside a building, the individual homes present in a given street. Once you have all the information, a preliminary draft in which the works to be carried out are defined, the type of excavation, the sizing of the fibers, the positioning of thePFS street cabinet (secondary flex point).
Open Fiber explains that all these steps will be carried out, starting today, also with the help of RealCity.
What is meant by Digital Twin in the creation of fiber optic networks
Il Digital Twin it’s a digital replica of the territory which allows you to visualize in detail the physical environment, including buildings, roads, infrastructures and the fiber optic network itself. The digital model thus created offers numerous advantagesamong which:
- 3D visualization of the territory: Provides a three-dimensional and georeferenced representation of the territory, going beyond the simple photographic visualization of the traditional Google Street View service. This way, technicians get a more detailed and measurable view of the environment.
- 3D network and node visualization: Shows the routes and nodal elements of the fiber optic network in detail in a three-dimensional environment.
- Accurate measurements: Allows you to take precise remote measurements, such as distance between wells, restoration surfaces and more, for testing and accounting purposes. “Restoration surface” refers to an area of land or environment that has been disturbed or altered during construction, excavation or infrastructure installation work, and which subsequently needs to be restored or returned to its original condition or an acceptable state after the completion of the works.
- Remote monitoring: Allows monitoring of work quality and execution of tests without the need to physically go to the field.
- Exchange of georeferenced information: Facilitates the exchange of information between the RealCity 3D environment and the GIS system (Geographical Information System) which contains the database of network elements.
Faster fiber roof job design phase with Realcity
With Realcity, Open Fiber can more quickly, efficiently and sustainably design fiber optic network construction, eliminating the need for traditional field surveys and leveraging digital technologies to improve project planning and implementation.
Giuseppe Gola, CEO of Open Fiber, underlined the company’s efforts aimed at neutralizing the “digital divide” problem. “In this sense, the implementation of new technologies represents an essential ally thanks to which we will be able to speed up processes, with the aim of guaranteeing everyone adequate connectivity for the challenges of today and the future“, commented.