The association of Italian internet providers (AIIP) has asked the government to open a crisis table “with the utmost urgency”, to avoid possible shutdowns of critical nodes in the event of energy rationing

In short, there is a fear that even critical infrastructural points of the internet could fall under rationing measures.

The aim is to be prepared, should measures be taken austerity to contain consumption. Someone digital infrastructures cannot be turned off like street lamps. Therefore AIIP asks Palazzo Chigi for a “whitelist of the Pods that power the telecommunications system”. Translation: a list of the strategic points of the energy supply (Pod) to be kept operational at all timeseven in crisis situations. The request had already matured in 2022, with the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and reiterated in 2023 with the Meloni government in office. But nothing was done about it. Now, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, AIIP is once again calling for its urgency. Mapping the strategic “nodes”. it’s not even enough, because we need to preserve – even in the darkest scenarios – theirs energy continuity. That is to say “secure the entire business continuity chainfrom the electricity supply to the cabins and network branches upstream of the Pods, up to the availability of diesel for the generators, the continuity systems, the technical means for maintenance, the accessibility to the sites, the logistics of spare parts, the control rooms and the priority procedures for restoring services”. Aiip underlines how the request is not for the benefit of the providers, but for the entire society: “Without such infrastructures essential functions are interrupted or degraded for hospitals, emergency, security, public administrations, payments, logistics, schools, remote work, remote video surveillance and public services”.