The Italian Competition Authority (“ICA”) extended the subject of the proceedings initiated last year, in June, against Telecom Italia S.p.A. (“TI”), to verify suspected violations of Art. 102 of the TFEU through a possible abusive strategy hindering the entry of the new infrastructure competitor in ultra-broadband communication services.
The investigation found a further anti-competitive conduct, which led to extending the subject matter of the proceedings. This conduct consists in TI’s attempt to apply - in the provision of wholesale broadband and ultra-broadband access services - economic conditions that could hinder infrastructure competition and limit the contestability of customers who buy wholesale services.
Therefore, during the proceedings the ICA will check whether a further anti-competitive conduct has been put in place on the market of broadband and ultra-broadband retail telecommunication services, consisting in TI’s misuse of the inside information it can access thanks to its dominant position in network management activities.
The above described conducts could be attributable to a single and complex anti-competitive strategy that the ICA hypothesized in the initiation decision of 28 June 2017, which allegedly has the purpose of hindering the execution of the Open Fiber investments plan and also of limiting the competitive development of ultra-broadband services retail offers.
The extension of the proceedings has been notified today during inspections carried out by the ICA in collaboration with the Special Antitrust Unit of Guardia di Finanza.

Rome, 21 February 2018