The Council of the Communications Regulatory Authority, in the session of 30 April 2024, approved – with four votes in favor and with Commissioner Elisa Giomi voting against – the resolution which concludes the investigation relating to the coordinated analysis of the communications markets. access to the TIM fixed network, pursuant to art. 89 of the Electronic Communications Code.
The approved text – having acquired the favorable opinions of the Competition and Market Authority and the European Commission – include l’analysis of the markets for wholesale local access services and wholesale dedicated capacity services (pursuant to Recommendation No. 2020/2245/EU) as well as wholesale central market access services (pursuant to Recommendation No. 2014/710/EU).
In particular, the evolution recorded in the markets, especially in terms of coverage of operators’ fiber networks and sales of services, leads to a new and more updated geographical dimension of the markets, compared to those of the previous analyses, referred to in resolutions no. 348/19/CONS and n. 333/20/CONS.
The measure adopted concerns for the first time a five-year horizon (2024-2028) in line with the objectives of regulatory stability and predictability required by European legislation and the Electronic Communications Code. The analysis demonstrates that the market for wholesale central access services (bitstream) is competitive and, as such, no longer susceptible to ex ante regulation. Consequently, the current regulation pertaining to TIM is removed (with an eighteen-month sunset clause for access obligations, to protect the market).
With reference to local access wholesale services and dedicated capacity services markets, the analysis has identified the fully competitive areas of the country (14 Municipalities for the local access services market and 4 Municipalities for the dedicated capacity services market), in which the regulatory obligations currently incumbent on TIM are removed, compared to the areas of the Rest of Italy in which TIM’s position of significant market power (together with its subsidiary FiberCop) is confirmed and, consequently, the imposition of corrective measures provided for by the Code.
A is also identified set of most contestable municipalities (95 Municipalities for the local access services market and 67 Municipalities for the dedicated capacity services market), in which, as significant but not yet consolidated competitive pressure has been found, only the obligation to control prices for VULA and dedicated capacity services. The list of contestable Municipalities will be subject to an annual review.
Furthermore, with the measure adopted the Authority imposes on TIM/FiberCop the obligation to provide passive access services on the FTTH network (Full-GPON, Semi-GPON, P2P su rete secondaria ed end-to-end) at fair, reasonable, transparent and non-discriminatory technical and economic conditions, preparing specific offers to be submitted for approval by the Authority and which can also take into account the contracts already stipulated by the operators.
For the other access services to the incumbent operator’s network in the various architectures, the provision, in application of consolidated methodologies, establishes the price level on the basis of the cost orientation criterion, including the return on invested capital (WACC), having as reference the FTTH network as an efficient network model. In particular, a progressive glide path is established for the application of tariff increases for copper and mixed copper-fibre services starting from the year 2025. Finally, the specific forecasts for the regulation of the decommissioning process of the copper network of TIM, to encourage the migration of end customers from legacy services towards new technologies in a context of protection for the market and consumers.
The defined regulatory framework may be reviewed before the expiry of the five years if the process of ownership separation of the TIM network announced in January 2024 is completed.