AGCM

PRESS RELEASE

The Antitrust accepts the commitments from Telecom Italia and Wind
to remove contractual clauses with the sale network
which hinder the distribution of competitors’ products and services

The Competition and Market Guarantor Authority has accepted and made obligatory the commitments submitted by Telecom Italia S.p.A. and Wind Telecomunicazione S.p.A. on the issue of the supplementary agreements reached with some multi-brand retailers. These agreements envisaged some preferential treatment conditions, in the form of additional awards or discounts or extra-contractual incentives, on condition – among other things – of keeping the competitive offer within the single sale points unchanged. The two operators had further reserved for themselves the right to rescind the agreements, or not to dispense the contemplated incentives, in the event that the dealer had marketed products or services of rival companies, save for the relationships underway with other operators as at the date of signature of the agreement.

In particular, Wind has bound itself to amend the clause in such a manner as to circumscribe its extent only to those instances in which the dealers concerned find themselves marketing products or services of competitors, not yet served by the sale point, boasting a market share of the total expense per clientele, in the field of mobile phones, which is higher than Wind’s. In other terms, the company shall utilize for five years a rephrased text of the clause, so as to make it explicit and unequivocal that such a clause will not be applicable, nor apply, whenever the sale point will start marketing products or services from operators boasting a lower market share than Wind’s in the field of mobile phones, whether they consist in Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO) or in Mobile Network Operators (MNO), whether already present or new entries in the market.

Telecom, in turn, bound itself not to introduce for three years in the contracts with its own distributors clauses which confer on it the right to rescind agreements envisaging additional incentives in the event that the multi-brand dealer begins the marketing of products or services from rival mobile phone operators that are additional to those already marketed as at the date of signature of the agreement which includes the additional incentive.

By amending these clauses, it will be possible for smaller size operators and for new entries to gain access to the multi-brand distribution network already contracted by Telecom and by Wind: that will enable a reduction of the obstacles to access the market of mobile phone products and services.

Rome, 22 December 2014