AGCOM has approved a draft of the regulatory framework for the next five years.
Background: AGCOM was due to review the markets for wholesale broadband access in 2018. The review incurred delays for several reasons, including a proposal submitted by Telecom Italia for a voluntary separation of its access network.
What does the review look like? The draft is a mix of “business-as-usual” (i.e. TIM proposed to have SMP across the country) and new elements (namely, identifying the area of Milan as competitive and therefore not warranting regulation). It also proposes to increase copper access prices (both bitstream and unbundling) while reducing fibre access rates for the period 2019–21. The review also examines TIM’s voluntary decommissioning of copper in areas with high fibre coverage, and proposes shorter timings compared to TIM’s plan.
Other important aspects: AGCOM will submit TIM’s separation plan to public consultation, with particular regard to the impact it will have on non-discrimination and ‘equivalence’ obligations; it will also launch a consultation on the technical conditions for wholesale access to TIM’s network. Separately, AGCOM is also consulting new rules to move customers between ISPs using a wholesale provider other than TIM, so that service disruption is minimised when switching; AGCOM notes the rise of the alternative wholesale player Open Fiber has triggered this consultation.
Next steps: The consultation document has not yet been published, although this should happen any day now. Stakeholders will then be able to respond within 45 days.
