The village of Plaiuri in Cluj County is the latest beneficiary of the state-of-the-art technology from the "Digital Bridges" project, developed by Prysmian and the Cluj-Napoca City Hall.
The village is the latest example of best practices and digitalization in rural areas. The villagers have been connected to the high-speed internet network through the pilot project "Digital Bridges," developed by Prysmian in partnership with the Cluj-Napoca City Hall.
"Digital Bridges" is part of the Rural - Urban Hub project, which brings together local authorities and the business community with the aim of equalizing the daily living standards between Romanians living in villages and those in cities.
The village of Plaiuri in Petreștii de Jos commune has been connected to the FTTH network, which stands for Fiber To The Home, a network where the optical fiber reaches directly to the user's home, not just to a nearby node as is usually practiced. The FTTH connection is considered to be one of the best types of internet connections currently available. Connecting the village to the internet was a true innovation locally, as even the mobile phone network had been functioning poorly until that moment.
"In the village of Plaiuri, it was often impossible to make even a phone call due to the extremely weak signal. The relay is positioned behind a hill, and the signal could not pass through it; it was unstable and affected by interference and distance.
Currently, after bringing high-speed internet into homes, the entire community seems to have been brought back to life: young families have moved from Cluj to Plaiuri and now work remotely, and local entrepreneurs have started to appear, wanting to open small businesses in the area.
It is very important that students finally have access to online documents and smart tablets they had only dreamed of until now, that people have learned to make online payments, and that they can now talk on the phone anytime because we also solved the mobile phone signal issue.
To digitalize the Cluj-Napoca metropolitan area, Prysmian understood that it had to act from the bottom up. It is a challenge to digitalize a small village while preserving its authenticity and respecting its traditions.
The success in Plaiuri can be replicated anytime, anywhere in the country, and even abroad, with the right partners who understand the need for the evolution of small communities. Prysmian is here to bring innovation to any community, wherever it may be in the world, no matter how harsh the conditions in which it lives," said Cristian Gheorghe, Business Development Director for Eastern Europe at Prysmian Cables and Systems, during the Carbon Neutrality Summit 2025 in Cluj-Napoca.
The event brought together local, national, and international stakeholders interested in finding quick solutions for decarbonization.
"I congratulate all local and regional actors involved for the exemplary way they have understood and applied the concepts of interinstitutional collaboration and local testing of cutting-edge technologies for citizens. Through such initiatives, we are building not only infrastructure but also the future of a more equitable and intelligent society, part of the European innovation concept – deep innovation – where technology is used to address the real challenges of communities. Europe needs more projects like this, and the model from Cluj can be replicated in any corner of it", declared Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca.