Vodafone Italy has announced that, with immediate effect, it will start deploying 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in 100 new municipalities every month, enabling it to cover 90% of the Italian population by 2016. At present, the cellco boasts coverage of more than 300 municipalities and tourist areas; this figure will rise to 1,000 by year-end and 1,500 by March 2015. As part of its EUR3.6 billion (USD4.9 billion) investment programme Vodafone will also extend its 3.5G HSPA+ network to 95% of the population within two years, and deploy fibre-optic infrastructure to around seven million households.