Italy's antitrust and competition authority, AGCM, has announced the expansion of an investigation launched last summer into possible abuse by Telecom Italia (TIM) in the expansion of its fibre-optic broadband network to underserved and rural areas across the country. The watchdog said it’s now probing whether TIM had tried to set wholesale prices for operators seeking broadband access that might obstruct competition. In a statement, the AGCM also said it’s looking into possible anti-competitive behaviour by TIM on the retail broadband market via the use of privileged information it had obtained as the dominant network operator.
Italian newspapers reported that the company’s headquarters in Rome were raided by financial police on 21 February as part of the antitrust inquiry, with the AGCM suggesting the former incumbent's conduct could be part of a strategy aimed at obstructing rival Open Fiber’s efforts to roll out an FTTH network in digital divide areas.
TIM subsequently issued a statement reiterating that it had not been involved in any anticompetitive behaviour and had acted correctly. It added that it would continue to work with the watchdog to demonstrate that it had not been involved in any unlawful acts.
