The State Secretariat for Telecommunications and the Autonomous State Enterprise for Public Services (AASS) of the Republic of San Marino and ZTE Italy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of a partnership for the development of telecommunications in the country.
The initiative aims to develop high-tech infrastructure to optimise and expand services offered to the territory, encouraging economic development in the country through the emergence of competition in the services offered to private and business customers.
The project also provides for the launch of a 5G service coverage by 2018 and promises the Republic of San Marino to become one of the first Smart Countries in the world.
The investments include networks and technologies, both mobile and fibre optic, aimed also at encouraging competition through the entry of new operators.
The Memorandum of Understanding provides for the use of sustainable technologies aimed at protecting the territory of San Marino, which is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
"This is a particularly important project for the Republic of San Marino, explains Andrea Zafferani, Secretary of State for the Republic of San Marino - Industry, Craft, Trade, Labor, Cooperation and Telecommunications - and for this reason we wanted to develop a partnership with a world-class player like ZTE. San Marino wants to create a public infrastructure of the highest level, as did other small countries, both in the field of mobile and in the field of the fixed network, to be made available to private telecommunications operators in an active or passive manner. We want to support and strengthen the historical relationship with Telecom Italia and favour the arrival of new operators in the territory, both in the field of fixed and mobile. We have already obtained a written event of interest from WindTre, of which we are particularly pleased ".
"We want to invest in telecommunications, push on technological innovation and be one of the first countries in the world to offer 5G to businesses and citizens. We want to be an attractive country for companies active in all areas related to telecommunications and technological innovation, thanks to interesting laws and incentives and in collaboration with our Institute for Innovation, San Marino Innovation. Thanks to Zte and in collaboration with our university - concludes Zafferani - we will develop a training and innovation center in the Republic, to train people in the telecommunications and innovation fields."