Stampa

REVIEW OF THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY (Advisory opinion)


PRESS RELEASE



The Italian Competition Authority submitted an advisory opinion to Parliament, Government and the Minister for Post and Telecommunications Services, in compliance with Section 22 of Law no. 287/90, on two legislative proposals dealing with the communications system and the institution of the Agency for Telecommunications.

These two legislative proposals should lead to introduce the liberalization of the telecommunications sector and to carry out an overall review of the legislation on communications.

The Authority agrees completely with the perspective of liberalization of the telecommunications sector. However, the Authority considers it decisive that the same principles be taken in the legislation fully and transparently. Furthermore, the Staff deems it necessary a rapid reform in order to cover the long distance between Italy and the other countries with regard to the liberalization of rivals' access. In addition, a sector subject to regulation has to comply in any case with the antitrust legislation, that the Authority is empowered to enforce.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

The Community legislation on the telecommunications services provide some principles which appear very relevant and, as a consequence, must constitute the cornerstone of the reform of the sector in every Member State.

These principles are: free access to the market; the right to equal conditions of interconnection of systems; the adoption of measures that foster effective competition.

CONCESSIONS AND AUTHORIZATIONS

As mentioned in Section 3 of the legislative proposal on the reform of the telecommunications industry, the complete liberalization of the telecommunications infrastructures seems to be partly hampered by a provision that subordinates the implementation of new infrastructures to a concessionary regime, aside from the use of public properties.

The liberalization, which is necessary for any reorganization of the sector, leads to recognize the right of free enterprise in the telecommunications industry, whose real exercise may depend at most on the issuing of an authorization, as provided by the recent French and German reforms, for instance.

Finally, according to the European Union, it is desirable that a single agency be empowered at national level to issue the eventual authorizations for implementing new infrastructures.

CONDITIONS OF INTERCONNECTION OF SYSTEMS

The Authority considers it opportune that the legislative proposal expressly states the right to interconnection as well as the obligation on carriers to make known, in compliance with the provisions of the Community legislation, the economic and technical conditions of interconnection.

UNIVERSAL SERVICE

It seems desirable that the legislative proposal on the review of the telecommunications services sector defines precisely which service must be considered universal service and which guidelines must regulate the evolution of this concept.

As regards the amount of contributions to be paid to finance the universal service, the Authority deems that it must be proportional to the effective market position held by the new network operators, in such a way as to prevent the introduction of any mechanism which can hamper market access by rivals. Further, the new entrants and the operators who already supply an universal service by using innovative technologies will be exempted from the contributions (as provided, for example, by the French reform with regard to carriers managing mobile radio networks).

PROTECTION OF PLURALISM AND PROTECTION OF COMPETITION

Pluralism and competition have different objectives and, therefore, the respective scopes must be kept separated. In fact, pluralism falls within the scope of Section 21 of the Constitution, whereas competition deals with the constitutional principle of the right of free enterprise referred to in Section 41.

The Agency for Telecommunications shall be given the role of regulatory body which supervises and guarantees the principle of pluralism of information provided by Section 21 of the Constitution, whereas the Italian Competition Authority shall be empowered to enforce the national antitrust legislation in response to the requirements of Section 41 of the Constitution.