CONSORZIO RISPOSTA/ENTE POSTE ITALIANE
PRESS RELEASE
The Antitrust Authority deems the provision by the Italian post office of the "hybrid electronic mail" service to be an abuse of dominant position
The Antitrust Authority has completed its investigation of the "hybrid electronic mail" services (known as "PT Postel") provided by the Poste Italiane (Italian post office) company.
The Authority found that the use of the postal network to supply this service at substantially lower prices than those charged to other hybrid electronic mail operators was an abuse of a dominant position under Section 3 of the Antitrust Act.
The "hybrid electronic mail" service consists of the electronic transmission of mail, printing it at the place of destination and then delivering it to the addressee. In 1996, the Postel company was formally incorporated, with Poste Italiane as its controlling shareholder, and Elsag-Bailey as a minority shareholder, but the company has never become operational. Poste Italiane delivers the PT Postel "hybrid electronic mail" and entered into an undertaking to supply this same service to all the other hybrid e-mail operators, on the same terms and conditions.
During the investigation, which began as a result of a complaint from Consorzio Risposta, it transpired that despite having received specific requests by companies interested in having access to its postal network, Poste Italiane had never replied to any of them. And this conduct had prevented these companies from access to the distribution system used to supply the PT Postel service on non-discriminatory conditions. In practice, the charge made to the hybrid e-mail operators to deliver their mail was the price of an ordinary stamp, whereas the price charged by Poste Italiane to deliver the PT Postel mail was substantially lower.
At the end of the investigation, Poste Italiane submitted a proposal to the Authority containing the conditions for access to the delivery network which the company was willing to apply to all the operators interested, if they requested it, in order to put an end to the discriminatory treatment of hybrid e-mail operators by 1st March 1999. The Authority accordingly took note of the proposal and ordered Poste Italiane to submit, by 1st March 1999, a detailed report on the measures it had adopted in order to remove the violation of the Antitrust Act. The Authority will subsequently judge whether these measures are adequate and effective.
Rome, 12th January 1999