Iliad, Italy’s newest Italian mobile network operator (MNO), has written to the country telecoms and competition regulators, asking them to carry out an assessment on the effects of the proposed 5G network sharing agreement between larger rivals Telecom Italia (TIM) and Vodafone Italy. The two cellcos announced in February this year that they would share 5G infrastructure in order to speed up network deployments and reduce costs by up to 30%. Meanwhile, an existing passive network sharing agreement between TIM and Vodafone will be extended from the current level of 10,000 sites (covering 45% of the population) to include all 22,000 sites under their control, giving nationwide coverage.
A report from CorCom says the newcomer has written to the Communications Regulatory Authority (Autorita per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, Agcom) and the Competition Authority (Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) to ask them to review the planned tie-up and its effects on competition.
French-owned Iliad joined Italy’s mobile market in May last year and recently announced it had signed up 3.3 million users.