Goals
The goal of the Project is to adapt the Internet Speed Test, developed by FUB for Agcom, in order to allow the use of this tool to provide evidence of the connections activated by benefiting from the vouchers, in accordance with the Decree on the “Low Income Households Voucher Plan” and with the related regulation produced by Infratel Italia Spa.
Impact
The Project allows for the expansion of the use and dissemination of the punctual measurement tool for the quality of the Internet connection service, called Speed Test, developed within the Misura Internet project with Agcom. Moreover, as a result of the intervention, this tool will be able to cope with the increase in the number of measures resulting from the use of the “Voucher plan”, while safeguarding their reliability.
Description
As of 7 August 2020, the Ministry of Economic Development promoted the Voucher Plan for less wealthy households, entrusting the implementation of the related activities to Infratel Italia Spa.
According to the relevant Decree concerning the “Low Income Household Voucher Plan”, the goal of the plan is to support demand for ultra-broadband Internet connection services for households with an ISEE (Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator) of less than €20,000.
These households are granted a subsidy on the cost of the ultra-broadband Internet connection fee for a period of at least 12 months. This subsidy is paid for the provision of connectivity services with speed of at least 30 Mbps download to households that either have no connectivity contract or that have a broadband connectivity contract with speed below 30 Mbps download.
According to the agreements between Infratel and each Operator, the latter, when activating an Internet connection for a beneficiary of the Plan, must deliver to Infratel a document certifying that activation has taken place.
In this regard, the measurement tool for precisely measuring the quality of the Internet access service from Misura Internet’s fixed location thus becomes the means to certify the level of quality of Internet access at the time of its installation.
In order to cope with the increase in the number of voucher-enabling measures and to safeguard their reliability, it is necessary to strengthen the measurement architecture, in particular, by also opening the NAP in Rome to Speed Test measurements and by expanding the measurement point in Milan.