Following on from its complaint against the 5G network sharing deal between Wind Tre and Fastweb earlier this month, Iliad Italy has now raised antitrust concerns over a 5G tie-up involving the country’s other two cellcos, Telecom Italia (TIM) and Vodafone. Last February TIM and Vodafone signed a 5G network sharing agreement, and in July the firms agreed to combine their respective Italian tower networks into TIM’s tower unit INWIT.
Reuters says Iliad has contacted competition authorities to raise its concerns about the deal, citing CEO Benedetto Levi as saying: ‘A partnership between operators like INWIT and Vodafone could put competition at risk… we are ready to defend ourselves if competition was at risk.’ He added: ‘Generally speaking, we are not against network sharing agreements per se, but these partnerships should not create distortions in the market.’ While Vodafone and TIM launched 5G services in 2019, Wind Tre and Iliad are expected to introduce the new technology this year.