It's easy to say "fiber". Between March and April, fromAntitrust a wave of millionaire fines has arrived to the main internet operators active in Italy. Tim received the highest fine (4,8 million), followed by those for Vodafone (4,6 million), Fastweb (4,4 million) e Wind Tre (4,25 million).
The advertising campaigns of the four groups ended up in the Authority's sights, guilty of not having provided sufficient information on the characteristics of the fiber offers.
In particular, according to the Antitrust, fundamental details have been omitted on the economic conditions of the services, on the differences in performance depending on the infrastructures used and on the geographic coverage limits of the networks.
Consequently, «the consumer, in relation to the use of the catch-all term “fiber” – writes the Antitrust in all four press releases – he was not put in a position to identify the elements which concretely distinguish the different types of offer» and therefore he was unable «to make an informed decision on the purchase».
In the meantime, another Authority, Agcom, is preparing a regulation to require companies to associate offers with a sticker certifying the actual speed of the connections. We had talked about it , promising.
As for the mobile services of Wind Tre, the Antitrust also speaks of insufficient information "on the extra-threshold traffic costs once the gigabytes included in the offer have been exhausted". Omissions which, together with the use of advertising slogans such as "Free Unlimited Plus" and "Browse carefree at maximum speed with 4's 3G LTE network", led consumers to believe that the offer included unlimited data traffic, when in this was not actually the case.
With reference to the campaigns of Fastweb, Vodafone e Tim, on the other hand, the Authority condemned the lack of clarity on another aspect of the offers, namely the fact that the highest connection speeds could only be reached by activating an additional option. An option that Tim immediately considered to be paid for, while Fastweb and Vodafone granted it as a free promotion for a limited period.
Now it is very likely that all the companies targeted by the Antitrust will appeal to the Tar against the maxi sanctions. And here too, we must distinguish. On the one hand, it must be said that until very recently - that is, practically until Open Fiber took the field, just over two years ago - Agcom's indications were in the direction of a mixed technology, Fiber to the Cabinet (FTTC) , which matched fiber all the way to the phone booth and twisted pair copper all the way to the customer's home. A technology that clearly involves a slowdown in speed in the so-called "last mile".
The entry into the field of Open Fiber (50% Enel, 50% Cdp) has reversed the order of factors, bringing the most advanced technology into the spotlight: Fiber to the home (FTTH), capable of bringing optical fiber directly in homes. But Agcom's adjustment to the new market situation was not as fast. The regulation we mentioned earlier is still to be born. This has also created confusion in communicating with customers. Confusion that the Antitrust has stigmatized by intervening severely to protect consumers.
In favor of Vodafone, it must be said that it has invested in the FTTC but has always been in favor of the FTTH and was the first to sign the agreement with Open Fiber to use its fiber network as it is spread across the territory national. Wind-Tre adapted and followed her example. Tim resists and aims to create his own network but is blocked, or slowed down, by the disputes between shareholders which will reach the redde rationem.
