92002E0693

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0693/02

by Roberto Bigliardo (UEN) to the Commission

(5 March 2002)

Subject: Telecom Italia subscriber fee

Telecommunications operators in Italy are no longer functioning in monopoly conditions, and Telecom Italia should therefore logically have abolished its user subscriber fee in 2001. Does the Commission have an opinion on the real reasons why Italian users are still being burdened with this fee?

Reply given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission

(8 April 2002)

The rental fee (canone) covers maintenance costs for the copper pair between the telephone exchange and the subscriber. It is intended to pay for a service provided by Telecom Italia and is just as justified in a competitive situation as in the era of monopolies.

To this end, Article 17(2) of the European Parliament and Council Directive 98/10/EC of 26 February 1998 on the application of open network provision (ONP) to voice telephony and on universal service for telecommunications in a competitive environment(1) provides that tariffs for use of the fixed public telephone network and fixed public telephone services must follow the basic principles of cost orientation. National regulatory authorities must ensure that organisations providing voice telephony services which have significant market power act in accordance with this principle. The relevant regulatory authority in Italy is the authority for the guarantee of telecommunications (AGCOM).

Furthermore, Article 4c of Commission Directive 90/388/EEC of 28 June 1990 on competition in the markets for telecommunications services(2), as amended, requires that Member States to allow these organisations to align telephone tariffs on real costs. The purpose of this is to stop prices being held below costs in some markets. The existence of retail prices that are lower than access charges to the unbundled local loop stifles the demand for new entrants and hinders the emergence of real competition at the local level.

Consequently, in accordance with the applicable Community law, the former monopolies must be able to charge their customers a rental fee (canone) that generates sufficient income to cover the cost of providing the access service to their subscribers. The Commission has taken action against several Member States that had restricted the freedom of incumbent operators to align their rental fees on real costs.

In the case of Italy, it should be remembered that a price-capping system is applied by AGCOM to Telecom Italia's tariffs. So whenever Telecom Italia increases rental fees, it must lower other prices to remain inside the ceiling imposed by AGCOM. For the average consumer, then, this is a neutral-impact operation.

(1) OJ L 101, 1.4.1998.

(2) OJ L 192, 24.7.1990.