Italy considers tax breaks for ultrafast broadband rollout

Italy plans to widen a tax break scheme aimed at cutting power usage to include work to bring ultra-fast broadband to buildings, a draft decree showed, as the country works to close its digital gap with the rest of Europe. The European Union’s third-largest economy ranks second to last among the bloc’s 27 member states in Internet usage, the latest EU data show.

Around 17% of Italians have never used the web and only 13% of households subscribe to superfast broadband connections of at least 100 megabytes. Italy’s new government, led by former European Central Bank head Mario Draghi, plans to spend more than 8 billion euros ($9.76 billion) in EU funds on broadband, 5G and satellite technologies and wants superfast connections of 1 gigabyte available to all Italians by 2026.

Under the push, the government is considering including works for fibre optic rollout to existing tax breaks for people carrying out home improvements, the draft showed. The measure allows people to detract from their taxes 110% of what they spend to make their homes more energy efficient. Reuters