Open Fiber, the Italian wholesale network operator, is claiming EUR1.5 billion (USD1.7 billion) damages from incumbent telco Telecom Italia (TIM) for alleged abuse of its dominant market position. In March this year TIM was fined EUR116 million by the country’s competition watchdog for anti-competitive activities dating back to 2017. The Competition Authority ruled that TIM had ‘placed obstacles to the entry of other competitors, preventing both a transformation of the market according to conditions of infrastructural competition, and the regular competitive comparison in the market of retail services aimed at end customers’. An unnamed source at Open Fiber is cited by Reuters as saying: ‘The damages claim was brought after that decision.’
A source at TIM meanwhile labelled the damages claim as ‘ridiculous’, adding that TIM is looking to bring its own suit against Open Fiber for ‘unfair competition,’ seeking ‘an equal or an even higher damages compensation’.