MILAN, Italy -- Tomorrow Telecom Italia launches “Alice 20 Mega”, a new flat-rate “high-speed” internet connection package offering speeds of up to 20 Megabits per second using ADSL 2 Plus. By significantly boosting the speeds possible over normal home phone lines, this new ADSL technology allows customers to watch TV over the internet and use all of the most advanced and innovative communication services at the same time.

“Alice 20 Mega” offers downstream internet connections at up to 20 Mbps, and upstream speeds of 384 Kbps: enough to use all “triple play” (high-speed internet, TV and voice) services at the same time and with enhanced performance. Standard phone lines can now carry live and on-demand video content from Alice Home TV (Telecom Italia’s TV over the internet service), and in the very near future will offer high resolution video calls to mobile phones over the IP network. While using these services, customers can simultaneously make VoIP calls over Telecom Italia cordless handsets, surf the net wirelessly at broadband speeds and also maintain multiple connections. In the second half of the year, Telecom Italia will offer applications and high-definition video content over ADSL 2.

“Alice 20 Mega” is being offered to residential customers at a flat rate of €36.95 per month. ADSL 2 Plus technology requires a compatible modem, which is available from Telecom Italia, and includes a WiFi option.

ADSL 2 Plus is already available in over 60 cities across Italy, including Alessandria, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Bolzano, Brescia, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Gorizia, La Spezia, Livorno, Milan, Modena, Naples, Rome, Padua, Palermo, Parma, Perugia, Piacenza, Pisa, Pordenone, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Sondrio, Trento, Treviso, Trieste, Turin, Udine, Venice, Verona and Vicenza.

By the end of 2006, roughly 56% of Italy’s fixed-line network access lines will be covered by this service. By 2008, it is estimated that this figure will rise to 94% of Italian telephone users. Telecom Italia continues to develop broadband and innovative services across the nation. At the end of April 2006, the company supplied 6.1 million broadband connections in Italy.

Telecom Italia (TIM)