A 900-km submarine fiber optic network in the Tyrrhenian Sea will connect Mazara del Vallo (in Sicily) to Genoa with a hub near Rome Fiumicino. The new infrastructure will be headed by a company owned 66.67% by the IPC Fund and 33.33% by the UNIDATA company, with the possibility for the latter to come to hold a majority stake once the construction phase is completed. The investment will be 80 million euros: 36 million euros will be financed by equity, while the remaining approximately 44 million euros will be financed by the banking system and self-financing generated by the operation. It will be the first 24-pair fiber optic Open Cable system in the Mediterranean region with cutting-edge submarine technologies aimed at meeting the ever-increasing broadband needs both nationally and internationally. The submarine fiber optic market is booming, with a projected global investment of 2.5 billion dollars over the period 2022-2024. To date, nearly all of the world's Internet traffic (more than 95%) is carried through a global network of more than 400 fiber optic backbones spanning 1.3 million kilometers. Investments are needed to support the growing volumes of data and their transmission and connection speeds (5G development, iCloud, cybersecurity, audio/visual content, metaverse, augmented reality, telemedicine, smart cities).
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