Telecom Italia, the incumbent operator, is bound by law to publish an Interconnection Offer which must be the basis for all negotiation with new operators, in respect of the non discrimination principles. Such offer, made public on July 24, 1998, has been judged by the Authority as not compliant with Italian and EU provisions. The Authority's decision has amended the Offer in many point and modified interconnection tariffs, in order to meet EU average interconnection tariffs as recognised by the European Commission. In brief:
1. Tariffs for call termination are predetermined, irrespective of the end terminal point involved: this also to avoid price differences between call terminated to a fixed and a mobile network.
2. The definition of telephone "districts" (for the purpose of pricing the services of call origination and termination) shall be made by the Authority, without regard to the actual structure (somehow irrational) of Telecom Italia's network. For example, the largest Italian cities are divided by Telecom Italia in more than one district, but new entrants may be able to reach all customers in those cities by way of interconnection to a single urban switch.
3. The number of services to be offered by Telecom Italia at fixed, non-discriminating terms and conditions has been widened. As an effect, operator-assisted calls, Freephone services and Caller Line Identification have been added.
4. The double transit on local switch service, previously excluded from the offer, must now form part of the offer, at fixed, non-discriminating prices.
5. Some "small print" clauses have been eliminated, with the consequence of making interconnection less burdensome and cheaper for new operators.
Furthermore, the Authority, reckoning that Telecom Italia's tariffs were unjustifiably high, ruled that such tariffs shall be no more than those published by the European Commission in its Recommendation on Interconnection Pricing (C(98) 2234) of July 29, 1998. The Recommendation of the UE calls for peak rate charges:
- between 0,5 and 1,0 Eurocents per minute for call termination at the local level;
- between 0,8 and 1,6 Eurocents per minute for "single transit" -i.e. call termination at metropolitan level;
- between 1,5 and 2,6 Eurocents per minute for "double transit" -i.e. call termination at national level - more than 200 Km.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
