Telecommunication in Italy

Development of telephone and internet connections

With an average download speed of 60.38 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Italy ranks 65th in an international comparison. The upload rate of only 19.23 Mbit/second was significantly lower (92nd place).
In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Italy comes 49th with a download speed of 42.68 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 9 Mbit was only enough for 89th place.

The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in December 2022 from 178 countries.

The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.

Access to the internet in Italy from 1990 - 2021

Broadband internet in Italy 2000 - 2021

Italy is lagging behind in the expansion of broadband internet connections. Around 75 percent of all residents have access to the internet. Around 32 percent have their own fast internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the internet via mobile communications. With around 2.3 people per household, this means that around 72.7 percent of all households are equipped with a high-speed internet connection.