competitionlaw

In the case I820 the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has recently opened an antitrust investigation into a price collusion arrangement allegedly put in place by the major telecommunications operators. The ICA decided to open the investigation on the basis of the information it collected regarding the following facts. In 2015 the major mobile phone operators TIM, Vodafone and Wind Tre reduced the deadline for topping up rechargeable SIM cards from one month to 28 days. Later the same decision was made by a major fixed phone operator, Fastweb. Unsurprisingly, these pricing practices wet met with criticism by consumer associations that feared disguised price increases. Tim, Wind and Vodafone were then fined by the ICA for unfair commercial practices. And by the Decree Law no. 148/2017 the Italian lawmaker laid down the obligation for the telecommunication operators for billing their customers on a monthly basis. The Italian Telecommunication Authority then released guidelines o