Italian Antitrust Concludes Proceedings Against FiberCop and Tim After Accepting Commitments

The Italian Competition Authority announced the closure of an investigation into the companies FiberCop and Telecom Italia (Tim). This decision followed the formal acceptance by the regulatory body of a package of commitments submitted by the companies in connection with legal controversies. The subject of the proceedings was the so-called master service agreement (MSA), signed by both firms following a key corporate operation. The Italian telecommunications market has for years been an arena of intense ownership and regulatory changes. The process of separating network infrastructure from operator services, known as separation, has been implemented in various European countries since the 2000s as a method of increasing competition by enabling multiple operators to access the same physical network. The operation that formed the direct background for the case was the separation (scorporo) of the telecommunications network, which was finalized in July 2024. As a result of this transaction, the company FiberCop was created, with the goal of managing fiber optic infrastructure. The MSA was intended to regulate the relationship between the new network management entity (FiberCop) and the historic operator (Tim) using it. The antitrust authority initiated proceedings to investigate whether the terms of this agreement violated principles of fair competition, for example by hindering other operators' access to the network. The process ended amicably, which is standard practice in such cases. Instead of imposing fines or orders, the regulatory body accepted voluntary commitments submitted by the parties. As emphasized in the statement, the decision was made after conducting a broad consultation process that involved other market participants. This consultation stage aims to verify whether the proposed remedial measures are sufficient and actually remove potential threats to competition. The detailed content of the commitments has not been publicly disclosed in the available statements, but their acceptance by the authority means it deemed them adequate. „Gli impegni sono stati accolti dopo un ampio processo di consultazione.” (The commitments were accepted after a broad consultation process.) — Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato The closure of the proceedings removes significant regulatory uncertainty for both companies, particularly for FiberCop, whose business model is based on commercially providing infrastructure to various operators. For the Italian telecommunications market, this decision means the continuation of the investment process in developing an advanced broadband network, which is a key element of national and EU digitalization plans.