Il lento incedere di Internet veloce. Una breve cronistoria delle politiche in materia di banda ultralarga

Ultrafast broadband network infrastructures, the so-called Next Generation Access Networks (NGAN), enable a speed of connection much higher than the one made possible by DSL technologies and hence are looked upon as excellent tools to drive economic growth and social progress. Considering that, the essay reviews EU initiatives aimed towards their promotion and examines more specifically the Italian regulator’s choices and the telecom operators’ reactions, with a particular focus on the factors which prevent from increasing the band’s width and the optic fiber’s spread. This paper, therefore, illustrates how and in which ways the New Generation Networks’ development has been encouraged, in order to define the current state of art and to describe the possible future scenarios