Agcom launches analysis on the telecommunications market
The consequences of the sale of the Tim fixed network to Kkr it is also normative. And therefore the Agcom approved, with four votes in favour and the Commissioner voting against Elisa Giomithe resolution to initiate the new procedure for the analysis of fixed network access services markets.
The Authority, as stated in a note, intends to ascertain the effects of the structural separation achieved in the various markets connected to the access network, in order to evaluate the maintenance, modification or removal of the regulatory obligations in force, applying, where the conditions exist, the discipline provided for, relating to companies active exclusively in the wholesale market.
There new analysis of the telecommunications market it is still expected by the former monopolist since Tim was a vertically integrated operator (with network access services and telecommunications services to businesses and individuals) and therefore with strong regulatory constraints not only at the tariff level but also at the regulatory level. In reality, it is not clear who will benefit more from the new rules, whether Tim or Fibercopthat is, the network company passed to bottom Kkr.
Now Tim will be able to make offers that have not been previously checked by Agcom. But the strong competition from the tariff point of view present on the Italian market imposes some rules. So much so that the ad Peter Labriola he never misses an opportunity to point out that the European telecommunications market includes many operators (in Italy alone there are 4 mobile operators with infrastructures plus several virtual operators) while in the USA the situation is very different.
It could be luckier Fibercop which could perhaps increase its wholesale rates although it still remains subject to a series of market analysis and level of constraints Infrastructure competition. In this case its main competitors are two: Open Fiber And Fastweb. This latter company, after the acquisition of Vodafone (now under consideration by the Antitrust) has what it takes to become a serious competitor for Fibercop and also for Open Fiber.
And if the agreement between these two companies for the single network were to pass, the application of “remedies”, i.e. the transfer of part of the network, would certainly further strengthen the infrastructure of Fastweb. So the task of Agcom it certainly does not look simple and will probably take a long time. As Commissioner Giomi explained to motivate her choice to vote.
“The market is emerging from almost four years of uncertainty both due to the shelving of the co-investment project (in the former Tim network, ed.) which came to nothing, and due to the multi-year duration of the investigation of market analysis which, before ending, also saw the adoption of an anomalous bridging measure aimed at filling the regulatory gaps. And therefore, in order to avoid the further prolongation of this state of uncertainty that has already caused several disparities in treatment between operators, I asked the other members of the Council to halve the investigation times of the procedure and to limit the extensions to just one time because it is certainly not a question of redoing the entire market analysis from scratch, but only of evaluating, however carefully and with the contribution of all interested parties, the effects of the network transfer. My request, which aimed at greater administrative efficiency, was not accepted and I had to vote against the measure, since the indefinite extension of the current regulation to a profoundly changed market scenario could distort the competitive dynamics of all operators, regulated and unregulated”.
#Agcom #analysis #telecommunications #market #sale #Tim #network