Background to the Fastweb ServiceThe service was established in Milan at the end of 1999 by Francesco Micheli and Silvio Scaglia as a vehicle for radical innovation in telecommunications, with the ultimate goal of becoming the first mover in the broadband business. Listed on the Italian Stock Exchange’s Nuovo Mercato for high-growth stocks since March 2000, Fastweb today is one of the top 40 Italian stocks in the new S&P index. Fastweb has developed a new generation of transmission networks which provide a complete alternative to traditional telephone infrastructure. Accessible in all major Italian cities and urban areas, the fiber network currently covers more than 12,700 km and will serve approximately 4 million Italian households by the end of 2004. By the end of 2006 it will reach a potential user base of 10 million households, thus anticipating its previous goals of 2010 when Fastweb will reach 30 million of Italian people. The Fastweb business model implements an equally innovative technological model: an all fiber network with direct access for the end user – families, including individual homes – and a full IP platform for integrated management of all types of traffic: voice, data and DVD live video. Last-mile access is provided either on an optical fiber connection (Fiber-to-the-Home/Fiber-to-the-Office solutions) or over unbundled xDSL lines. Thanks to this platform – a worldwide first, not only in size and complexity, but, more importantly, in terms of performance and potential – Fastweb has been able to combine previously separate functions and develop innovative high value added services, which can be used simultaneously over a single connection. Fastweb offers a broad range of services for all market segments – large corporations, small and medium enterprises, professionals, retailers and residential users. For Business users: from voice over IP (VoIP) telephone services and broadband Internet access, to new-generation video communication and video conferencing applications, virtual private networks (VPN) and business to employee (B2E) services, audio and video streaming, telesurveillance, web housing and web hosting, bandwith on demand, DWDM connectivity at rates of more than 1 Gigabit/s. The residential offer provides Internet access at the top speed available today in Italy (up to 10 Mbit/s for optical fiber and 4 Mbit/s for ADSL), as well as a growing range of high value added video services, a priority area at FASTWEB. Thanks to practically unlimited band capacity, its digital television service launched in 2001 has always delivered a rich variety of content, digital audio and video and true interactivity. The innovative FASTWEB television offer can be accessed via a normal TV set, enabling users to:
watch the main Italian channels and a series of free and pay-TV digital channels, without having to install dish antennas or decoders;
enjoy on-demand access to a growing library of more than 5,000 titles supplied by the ONtv and RaiClick channels;
tape their favorite terrestrial channels remotely, without the need for a VCR or tapes, simply by programming the recording from their TV remote control or any PC with Internet access; send and receive fax and phone messages directly on the TV screen or PC.
consult an electronic TV guide with full information about current and upcoming programs, via their TV remote control;
play games, surf the Internet and use e-mail services from their TV.
For more information about the service please visit:
http://www.ebiscom.it
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