A national strategic plan for the development of new generation broadband telecommunications networks, with absolute priority for optical fiber, and joint ventures between private operators to solicit and strengthen investments. This is the strong recommendation that comes from the Antitrust and Agcom at the conclusion of their joint investigation on broadband to make up for Italy's intolerable delays in the country's digitization as soon as possible.
How urgent it is to make up for the lost ground in the development of new networks is demonstrated by a figure, well highlighted, by the survey by the two Authorities: in ultra-broadband Italy is – together with Cyprus and Greece – among the EU countries in which the percentage of the population with a season ticket is less than 1% against a European average of 21% and the gap widened further in the three-year period 2011-2014.
How to get out of the tunnel? Antitrust and Agcom solicit public and private investments but without losing sight of the competitive profiles that many and perhaps too many operators in Italy see in the field of telecommunications. The survey obviously pays particular attention to the location of the fixed network, which today is mainly owned by Telecom Italia, which manages a strategic asset for the development of telecommunications and the country.
In this regard, the two Authorities design three scenarios. The first - the ideal scenario from a competitive and regulatory point of view - is that of a "pure network operator" that is not vertically integrated in the provision of services to users. Basically, without saying it explicitly, for the ideal scenario the survey imagines a sort of unbundling of the Telecom network on the Snam Rete Gas or Terna model, but warning immediately that this is a scenario of "very difficult concrete implementation" because we must never forget that Telecom Italia is a private company that cannot be dispossessed of a crucial asset such as the network.
However, a second and "possible alternative scenario, in which the market structure would reorganize itself solely on the figure of the vertically integrated dominant operator (ed. Telecom Italia), would imply on the contrary - Antitrust and Agcom warn - a particularly careful scrutiny both under the antitrust profile is in relation to its regulatory framework".
The third scenario therefore remains, i.e. the development of networks based on forms of co-investment between several operators including through joint ventures: investigation – could be considered a “second best” solution from a competitive point of view, but with the merit of accelerating investment processes in new generation networks”.
Very clear conclusions and recommendations that sound the alarm clock to the Government, Parliament and operators to quickly translate into practice the scenarios that must allow Italy to recover the ground guiltyly lost in the development of broadband and optical fiber and which relegate us among the bottom of the class in Europe.
