Italian broadband voucher scheme helps 70,000 families

The Italian government’s Ministry of Economic Development (Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico, MiSE) has awarded 70,000 vouchers to encourage the take-up of broadband services. The Ministry’s Infratel unit launched the EUR200 million (USD242 million) voucher scheme on 9 November, giving low-income families EUR500 towards the cost of installing broadband connections and purchasing equipment such as tablets and notebooks. In the first three months of the project 70,000 vouchers worth a total of EUR35 million were activated, while another EUR20 million worth has been ordered. This leaves 72% of the EUR200 million total funding left to claim.