Paradox of competition policy that poleaxes competition
Italy could benefit from a stronger national telecoms network by merging Telecom Italia (TIM) and Open Fiber assets without compromising fair competition, Innovation Minister Vittorio Colao said on Saturday.
“What we’re keen on is a national telecoms infrastructure ensuring great performance and quality,” Colao told Italian think-tank the Ambrosetti Business Forum on Saturday. “If this were to happen by combining parts of Telecom (Italia) with Open Fiber, that’s welcome as long as competition is preserved,” Colao told Competition Policy International.
Former Vodafone UK head Colao said he was worried that lowering returns on investments have neutralised the creative capacity of Italy and Europe in the past few years. Italy’s broadband performance has lagged that of many of its fellow European Union (EU) countries.
Colao confirmed that Italy, Spain and France have called for the European Commission to create legislation that holds Big Tech firms to account. In 2021 six content publishers accounted for 57% of the traffic on Global networks, according to Sandvine. In November 2021, thirteen of Europe’s biggest mobile operators, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and Orange, issued a joint statement calling on Google, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft and Twitter to be compelled to make a bigger contribution to the $60 billion funding needed to create the infrastructure they dominate.