Me too’Antitrust puts a foot in the game for the single network. L’Competition and Market Guarantor Authority initiated an investigation against the telecommunications companies Telecom Italia, Fastweb, Teemo Bidco, FiberCop, Tiscali e KKR.
The provision concerns the contracts governing the establishment and operation of FiberCop, the company created by Tim for the network pending the wedding with the public Open Fiber, or rather the supply agreements with Fastweb and Tiscali. For their part, Tim and Fastweb in a note affirm that they “welcome” the decision to launch an assessment of the impacts of the establishment of Fibercop, in view of the full operation of the joint venture, expected in the first quarter of 2021.
In fact, the investigation will not prevent the start of operations. The lens of authority will focus on the contribution to Fibercop of Flashfiber, a company to which the same authority had already expressed a positive opinion two years ago, accepting the commitments of Tim and Fastweb. Moreover, now the newco responds to a model of open co-investment, as encouraged by the EU.
“The start of the discussion – write the two companies – which follows a request from Tim and Fastweb, in the spirit of collaboration that has always distinguished the relationship of the two operators with the sector Authorities, represents an important step after the European Commission, last November 26, announced that FiberCop will not be subject to any obligation of communication and approval by the Community Antitrust “.
“FiberCop – the two groups still remember – has as its objective the rapid development of optic fiber (FTTH), and in particular the coverage of 76% of the black and gray areas and will develop on the model of open co-investment, as required by the new European Communications Code, thanks to which all interested operators will be able to take part in the project according to different participation methods and with a view to guaranteeing maximum competition “.
According to the Competition Authority, “the development of fiber telecommunications networks represents a crucial goal for our country that can be reached quickly only through the development of one healthy dynamic competition“. In this perspective, the Authority, “recognizing the possible efficiencies of shared infrastructure projects – has launched an investigation to ascertain that the agreements in question do not involve unnecessary competitive restrictions and that they provide adequate incentives to the disposal of the old technology of copper networks “.
In essence, for the Authority, the procedure aims to verify that these agreements do not create obstacles to free competition between operators of the sector in the medium and long term and are aimed at ensuring the rapid modernization of the country’s fixed telecommunications infrastructure. The Antitrust Authority, it is underlined in the reasons for the decision with which the investigation was started, already on the occasion of the creation of the FlashFiber company, showed a wide awareness of the potential for the competitiveness of co-investment projects, authorizing the project with remedies such as to guarantee the achievement of appreciable efficiencies, without however compromising the infrastructural competition between the various operators.
–
