Regulator lifts ex ante regulation of Telecom Italia's local and DLD telephony

Italian regulator Agcom has lifted ex ante regulatory obligations from incumbent Telecom Italia for fixed local and domestic long-distance (DLD) telephony services, including fixed-to-mobile calls, in the residential and business user market. In March 2010 Agcom launched a public consultation on the level of effective competition in the aforementioned markets, in which it concluded three months later that Telecom Italia no longer had significant market power (SMP), and decided on removing the ex ante rules imposed in 2006. The International Law Office reports that six months after publication of Agcom’s resolution in the Official Gazette, Telecom Italia’s local, DLD and fixed-to-mobile services will cease to be bound by obligations on: pre-notification of its offer conditions for price-test purposes in respect of tariff offers; non-discrimination in respect of end users; and service offer ‘unbundling’.