This master thesis aims at investigating the causal relationship existing among the recent diffusion of ultra-fast broadband and the innovation behavior of Italian enterprises, as depicted by the evolution of their patent portfolios. Latest breakthroughs in the ICT field have been positively acknowledged and soon embraced by both national and international regulators, whose policy interventions emphasize the empowering benefits of these technologies. In fact, both in the common sense and in economic literature, they are by now deemed to play a crucial role for modern entrepreneurship, both in terms of direct business advantages and indirect spillovers, which open new competitive opportunities.