Telecom Italia continues appeal against Antitrust decision

Italy’s incumbent fixed line operator Telecom Italia (TI) has said it will appeal a EUR103 million (USD133 million) fine handed down by the country’s Antitrust Authority for alleged abuses of its dominant position in the wholesale market. The Authority’s decision was backed up earlier this year by the Regional Administrative Tribunal (TAR) in the province of Lazio, and came following an investigation which was launched back in June 2010 following complaints from rival operators FastWeb and Wind, joined later by Vodafone Italy, BT Italy and the Italian Association of Internet providers (AIIP). The complaints related to the supposed high number of rejected applications for wholesale connections and alleged unfair discounts offered by TI to large business customers. Though it says it has already paid the penalty, TI is hoping to have the Authority’s decision overturned by early-2015 at the latest. Vodafone and FastWeb have also launched separate civil suits relating to the same matter, worth EUR1 billion and EUR1.7 billion respectively.