An Internet connection between Catania and Malta is today 10 times more expensive than from Malta to the United States. This anomaly, which is a real impediment to the development of the information society in the peninsula,  is denounced by Italian research network GARR-B, in association with the CNR.

In a convention held in Pisa CNR's main experts have studied the contribution that Italy gives to the technological growth of network communication, detecting the lack of market and modern technologies.
 
The greatest limitation to network diffusion, according to the speakers, is given precisely by the cost of Internet connection. A status that puts Italy on a level with Greece and Portugal and removes  the country from the standards of the most advanced European countries, a gap which with the entering of ever more advanced technologies risks getting bigger all the time.

There is also an entirely Italian paradox: the high rates imposed by the Guarantor Authority for Communication, introduced to avoid Telecom Italia's advantage as ex-monopolist, did not really favour the competition, since the other operators actually adapted to the higher rates.

February.2002

Cnr
Guarantor Authority for Communication