It won't be the definitive verdict, but tomorrow's preliminary pronouncement by Agcom, the Communications Authority chaired by Bocconian Angelo Cardani, on the spin-off of the Telecom Italia network is still a very important step. On the basis of European rules, the Agcom board, which will meet as early as this morning, will first have to establish whether or not the project presented by the group chaired by Franco Bernabè meets the criteria of "seriousness and reliability".
If the Telecom spin-off passes the first exam tomorrow, the dossier will enter a second, more demanding phase which will begin in September and probably end within 2013. In this new phase, the merits of the issues will be examined and the impact of the spin-off on the access markets and – also in the light of an in-depth comparison with all the operators and not only with Telecom but with Vodafone, Fastweb, Wind,. H3G, – of the context in which the operation takes place.
Only in the final stage of examining the spin-off will Agcom say whether or not it is possible to ease the regulatory obligations currently incumbent on Telecom Italia, as Bernabè has asked. And it is precisely on the basis of this strategic choice by Agcom that Telecom will decide whether to proceed with its project, which has no precedents in Europe and which may involve new shareholders such as Cassa depositi e prestiti, or to file the operation.
