Antitrust: three commitments to stimulate broadband
Antitrus: this is how we will favor broadband
In the premise of the AGCM there is certainly something unspoken to the intervention, as it is apparently aimed at all those local administrations that are placing obstacles to 5G, citing completely unmotivated reasons for "caution". Indeed, hundreds of local authorities have already lined up in this direction, and these are the words of the Antitrust Authority to clear the field of this first cumbersome obstacle:Public institutions must remove unjustified obstacles to installation and the operation of telecommunications infrastructures, promoting the use of electronic communication services by citizens and relaunching private and public investments in the aforementioned communication networks.
There is no mention of 5G, but it is clearly perceived the reference and the whole is made explicit from the first of the three propositional points listed by the Authority.
“ the Authority recalls as expressed earlier about the need to remove unjustified barriers to the installation of telecommunications equipment and mobile broadband wireless access , also in virtue of a renewed verification of the validity of the current limits of the electromagnetic and of the standard of measurement in the light of scientific assessments that have occurred in this regard, with consequent important favourable have an impact on the levels of service provided to consumers and businesses “; “ the Authority wishes to see an action plan to reduce administrative burdens and barriers to the development of telecommunications infrastructure, fixed with appropriate actions on the authorisation process and on the limitations on subcontracting, in order to encourage competition between operators for the provision of quality infrastructure, with adequate benefits in terms of price “; “ the Authority welcomes the forecasting tools to support demand through the provision of vouchers and electronic devices – for the less well-off families, to meet a dual objective: social inclusion and education in the digital world. At the same time, considers it necessary to further interventions aimed at families and businesses should be granted only for connections with speeds of at least 100 Mbps, in compliance with the principle of technological neutrality. Otherwise you would any unjustified support for technologies that have demonstrated, during the health emergency, not to be adequate to meet the connectivity needs of the Country. “ This last point is extremely interesting because it does not set a numerical limit to the concept of broadband, but there prepends a sense more pragmatic, and linked to the type of experience that you can get: there is no reduction of the digital divide if the band for which support is offered is not such as to allow a level of services useful to the pursuit of basic needs (from the smart working in the remote training).
The authority also asks that you break down those contractual obligations that bind the customers to the operators , since this not only lowers the level of competition, but slows down also the replacement of technology by fostering networks obsolete at the expense of those who invest in a new infrastructure.
The Authorities and hopes that these interventions are adopted in order to allow a faster development of the infrastructure of fixed and mobile telecommunication and of ensuring a level playing field in competitive terms. The competition between operators at all levels of the supply chain of the services of mobile and fixed telephony, it can represent the main engine for the modernization of the telecommunication networks, ensuring that consumers are the actual recipients of its beneficial effects, in terms of prices, service quality, and technological innovation.
