Customer Case Study:	Infostrada	Market Sector:	Telecommunications
Region:	Western Europe	Country:	Italy
Solution:	PAV SkyNet 155 Mb/s system
As deregulation has picked up pace in Italy, the country has grown into one of Europe's most competitive telecoms markets. Both in mobile and fixed-line services, a string of competitors are now lined up against incumbent operator, Telecom Italia. Despite the progress, competition is limited to national and international communications services. In the local loop, Telecom Italia is still king. With little TV cable competition, the incumbent is in a powerful position to supply high-speed broadband Internet services by running DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technology across its local loop network. Realising the importance of broadband, Italy's second largest fixed-line telephone operator, Infostrada decided to find an alternative route for delivering high-speed Internet services that didn't rely on access to the local loop. Recently purchased from Vodafone Airtouch, by Italian utility giant Enel, Infostrada knew it had the financial muscle to become a dominant force in broadband service provision. It immediately commissioned distribution partner, Harpax to investigate alternative wireless technologies for delivering broadband. Harpax is the only supplier of PAV's Free Space Optical (FSO) solutions in Italy, having successfully carried out previous projects in Rome, Turin and Genoa. Infostrada immediately leapt at the opportunity to explore and test BOWA technology that could give high capacity, 'last mile' connections to small, medium and large business customers. The first tests were carried out in Milan. The idea was to side-step Telecom Italia's copper telephone network and avoids the need to lay additional cable in the ground to carry Infostrada's broadband Internet traffic. Infostrada had previously encountered difficulties, as the local authorities would not allow the construction work needed to lay cable in the historic centre of the City. Zeffirino Perini, Sales Director at Harpax takes up the story, "The task was all the more challenging as many Italian cities such as Milan are heavily built up and densely populated. These urban centres often cannot accommodate additional construction work. This problem is exacerbated in Italy due to the large amount of historic and culturally important buildings located in city centres." The limits on construction work meant putting more fibre in the ground was not an option for Infostrada. So instead, they had to look to the air and wireless technology for their broadband access solution. Infostrada firstly examined microwave radio technologies, but found them inadequate on two counts. Firstly, the Italian government strictly controls radio spectrum. Before it could install any microwave dishes, Infostrada would first need to apply for a license from the Government - a process that could take several weeks, sometimes months. Secondly, microwave technology is best used for carrying traffic over longer distances. Large amounts of broadband Internet users, transferring graphics files or downloading music videos, in a congested urban environment would severely test it. Infostrada decided to test PAV's Free Space Optical (FSO) technology from Harpax. PAV, a UK-based firm with a global customer-base, was already using FSO systems to help mobile operators worldwide, such as Vodacom and MobiNil, 'soup-up' their networks to handle wireless Internet and video traffic. PAV provided Harpax with its fixed-line FSO solution, SkyNet, and tests began. FSO works in the same way as fibre-optic cable, that is with a laser transmitter and receiver working in the infra red light spectrum. However, instead of using glass fibre as the conductor for the light beams, it uses free space. Infostrada realised that FSO could comfortably handle the anticipated capacity demands generated by thousands of broadband Internet users (today's systems can transfer data at up to 622 Mb/s). The other key benefit for Infostrada was that because FSO uses light rather than radio spectrum, it was totally free of license restrictions. And as a wireless solution, it bypassed the regulatory and construction problems that dogged copper and cable connections. Through PAV's FSO solutions and with Harpax as a local supplier, Infostrada had found an alternative access technology that not only had the bandwidth to service huge quantities of broadband Internet users but could also be deployed immediately. The trials proved successful. Infostrada was impressed and SkyNet installations throughout Milan began straight away. "We're extremely impressed with PAV's FSO solutions, which fitted Infostrada's requirements perfectly. It's fast and reliable and didn't require a huge investment or heavy work to install. The fact that the equipment is portable means Infostrada can use the technology in another City or as backup if they ever get access to the local loop in Milan. We're now looking forward to working with PAV on several more fixed and mobile broadband access projects in the future," adds Perini. Chris Emerson, PAV's Director said: "The fiasco across the continent with local loop unbundling has presented a huge opportunity for PAV. Our FSO technology means that alternative operators can enter the broadband market immediately, by bypassing the regulatory chaos with fixed-line solutions and without haemorrhaging millions on buying a wireless microwave license. We're delighted to be helping Infostrada stay ahead of the competitors, by supplying high-speed Internet services to their customers now." For further information please contact: PAV Marketing Tel: +44(0) 151 632 9720 E-mail: marketing@pavdata.com

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