Tim, Labriola: “Why shouldn’t we raise our prices?”
“I think that this year we have begun to see greater attention with respect to telecommunications infrastructures. It must be reiterated that this is not just an Italian issue but a European one. We have to ask ourselves a question: why in Europe we have more than 100 mobile operators, with an area and a population quite similar to the American one, while on the other side of the ocean we don’t have all these operators? This is a business of economies of scale, 120 mobile operators do not hold up. “Thus, on the sidelines of the presentation of ‘Italian District’ in Rome, Tim’s CEO, Pietro Labriola.
“It is clear to everyone – added the CEO of the ex-Sip – that we are in a context in which interest rates are rising, inflation exists, you explain to me why we on wholesale prices should not recover the inflation? I remember that with this adjustment we will still be well below, in many cases, what are prices wholesale of the others. So it seems to me that it is a legitimate request and it is a trend that exists at the level European”Explained Labriola commenting on the proposal put up for consultation by Agcom for the access prices to Tim’s network paid by alternative operators, which foresees an increase, in 2023, of copper costs. “It seems to me that it is not Agcom that has raised some critical issues but it is the other operators”.
Specifically, for 2022, i network access prices would remain unchanged compared to 2021, while for the following year the prices for copper increase, while those for fiber decrease. On this Labriola explains: “Do we want the switch off of copper? If I lower the prices there is no copper switch off. Beyond that, then I have to line up all the arguments. When the number of copper customers goes down and you paradoxically have a copper infrastructure that you have to manage, the unit cost goes up, I think it’s math ”.
According to Labriola, however, “our country must begin to make more structural arguments about what is the interest of telecommunications. A working table has been created at the level of the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Innovation “, he noted, because telecommunications have no return to date. on investment“.
It is therefore necessary “to start thinking about how this sector has changed. Let us remember that the last big round of net investments was made when we built the copper networks when the operator was a public concessionaire and there were certain returns on an investment. Today it is complex to find yourself in a condition in which you invest in a service or infrastructure that has a return on investment to 8-10-12 years and you are not sure of the return on investment”Concluded Labriola.
#Labriola #opens #increase #wholesale #prices #shouldnt