Telecoms: Italy

The National Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) in March 2006 set the basic rules regarding VoIP services. Besides other very important rules (like banning portable geographical number), it also mandates full interconnections among VoIP operators to be deployed at IP level (and not at #7 signalling level).

The NRA gave 120 days to operators to come up with a technical proposal in order to comply with the IP interconnection rule.

In a country where 85% of mobile subscribers are on pre-paid, it’s not so bizarre that fixed line operators are willing to push the same model for wireline residential customers.

That’s exactly what Fastweb is promoting with its new ‘Tuttoricaricabile’ (all rechargeable) offer. Through a single broadband ADSL connection, Fastweb is offering both Internet access and voice on a sole ‘pre-paid’ mode. No monthly fee, no minimum contract, just simple and pure pay-per-use with customers buying ‘recharges’ in 25 €, 50 € or 100 € (including a € 5 overhead) as needed.

According to Fastweb,

Tuttoricaricabile is intended for the new user segment of young couples, singles and anyone interested in fixed telephone and Internet services, who keep a close watch on their spending

The Ministry of Communications has started the procedure to assign numbers for the nomadic VoIP service (55xxxxxxxxx) as planned by the new VoIP rules.
Every operators can currently ask for up to 50 blocks of 1.000 numbers each.
Each block costs €11,10.
Numbers will be assigned on a first-come first-served basis.

“UNICO” is the brand name chosen by Telecom Italia for its the fixed-mobile telephone, based on UMA technology, which functions as a multimedia cordless in the home, using the IP network, and as a GSM mobile phone outside.
Offered as an optional service at 15 euro a month on top of the ADSL access fee, “UNICO” permits calls from home to all fixed-line phones and TIM mobile phones without additional costs; outside the home, “UNICO” permits calls at 0 cost to two TIM mobile numbers and one fixed-line number. Billing will be kept separate for mobile and indoor use. The first handset offered by Telecom Italia, which will be on the market in July, will be the Samsung SGH P200.
Long announced by Telecom Italia one of its first converged fixed-mobile services, it will certainly stirs complaints from other OLOs and ISPs, because it is not replicable buying wholesale capacity from Telecom Italia. Moreover, no MVNO exist in Italy yet.
Actually, Wind is the only competing OLO owning both a fixed and a mobile network in Italy, but so far it has not announced any plan to deploy UMA technology.

The Italian National Regulatory Authority is expected to endorse soon an asymmetrical regulation concerning the wholesale fixed call termination rates.

Alternative network operators will be allowed to charge higher termination rates for the next four years before reaching symmetry with Telecom Italia.

Starting with the next ‘Serie A’ football season in September 2006, Telecom Italia will offer its premium content with a ‘converged’ subscription model. Through a single subscription, Telecom Italia’s customers will be able to watch live football matches delivered over IPTV (ADSL + set-top box), broadband connections (ADSL + PC) and mobile (DVB-H equipped handsets).

Italtel will soon be floated on the Milan Stock Exchange. This company is the only survived Italian ‘national champion’ in the telecom equipment sector. Its roots date back to the year 1921 and the company has historically been one of the key supplier of the incumbent Telecom Italia, which still owns about 20% of it.
The Milan-based company survived several ‘revolutions’ and reinvented himself more than once, it is focusing now on softswitches for Next Generation Networks.

At last someone is starting to compete with Telecom Italia in the broadband wholesale market. Tiscali Business Services has recently improved its wholesale portfolio. It now offers also wholesale ADSL2+-based services and co-locations thanks to its own nation-wide backbone and ULL sites.

From next July, MIX (Milan Internet eXchange) will adopt a new pricing scheme for Internet peering traffic.

The Italian National Regulatory Autority (AGCOM) banned the new convergent fixed-mobile UMA service due to be launched by Telecom Italia next July.
AGCOM ordered Telecom Italia to suspend its planned UNICO service because it cannot be replicated by alternative operators due to lack of an equivalent wholesale offer

Low speed leased lines (analog and digital lines up to 2 Mbit/s) offered by incumbent Telecom Italia to its retail customers will be subject to a price cap of CPI-7% effective January 2007.

The National Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) declared that the high speed (> 2 Mbit/s) retail leased lines market is competitive. Therefore, incumbent Telecom Italia will not be subject to ex-ante regulation anymore.

Telecom Italia announced that from mid September it will offer a full wholesale ADSL2+-based service to OLOs and ISPs.

According to unconfirmed sources, Telecom Italia is planning a new UMA-based converged offer targeted to business users.

From next August 1st, Telecom Italia will increase the cost of SMS messages sent by its fixed line customers to mobile users.

Telecom Italia decided to open its mobile network to allow competing fixed-mobile integrated services based on UMA technology.

Local utility company Selene deployed first in Italy a PLC (Power Line Communication) broadband commercial service in Brescia, a mid-size city in Northern Italy.

Starting from next October, Telecom Italia will add a 2 Mbit/s (256 kbit/s upstream) option to its ATM-based ADSL wholesale service.

A new rule set by the National Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) forces all fixed operators and ISPs to measure their quality of service according to a common policy.

Metroweb, a company controlled by the city of Milan, is considering selling its fiber optic and cable duct metropolitan infrastructure.

Italian network operator Elitel has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with FON Wireless Limited in order to support Wi-Fi access sharing over broadband lines.

Elitel Telecom today announced that it has acquired a controlling share of Alpikom, regional telecom operator based in North Eastern Italy.

The National Regulatory Authority (AGCOM), that previously forced Telecom Italia to postpone the launch of its UMA-based “Unico” converged service, is likely to authorize the incumbent operator to commercially launch the service, but limiting it to a maximum of 30.000 users in the next sixth month.

Italian OLOs has the right charge Telecom Italia a much higher interconnection rate than in the reverse direction. This is the controversial decision taken by the National Regulatory Authority (AGCOM) to foster infrastructure-based competition in the fixed line Italian market.

Telecom Italia is expected to sign next week a strong partnership with News Corporation regarding content licensing.

In Italy still several different emergency numbers are in operation. There is still a long way to go before reaching the goal of promoting a single European number (112) for emergency service.

However, a recent decree approved by the Government last August will facilitate the adoption of the 112 number as the main contact for emergency also in Italy.

Fastweb decided to adopt a new open decoder for its renewed IPTV service. New customers will get a new IPTV set top box working also as open HD-ready DVB-T digital terrestrial receiver.

Fixed-mobile convergence, “one company” model, multi-platform content delivery, … Telecom Italia was just kidding. The new stategy of the Italian incumbent is to sell its mobile subsidiary TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile), that was merged into the main company less than two years ago with much fanfare about synergies and “strategic advantages” of the fixed-mobile convergence.

According to an official press release issued today, the Board of Directors of Telecom Italia, examined and approved the roadmap for the reorganization of the Telecom Italia Group.

Convergence has been the most quoted word by Telecom Italia’s top management during the last couple of years.

Here is a peculiar summary of what they though about the importance of fixed-mobile convergence:

Fastweb and Vodafone announced their first fixed broadband and mobile convergent offer targeted to consumers.

Just a few days after abandoning its convergent strategy, Telecom Italia finally launched its long delayed Unico Wi-Fi/GSM service. Actually, Telecom Italia changed the name (and gender in the Italian language) from Unico to Unica.

Despite the current turmoil in the company, Telecom Italia was able to successfully bid for the German operation of AOL.
The Italian incumbent bought AOL Germany from Time Warner for € 675 million.

Siemens Communications Italia won a turn-key contract from Retelit to supply DWDM equipment operating at 40 Gbit/s.

The regional IT and telecommunications provider Infracom bought Netscalibur Italia, a Milan-based provider of carrier services, housing and networking solutions for € 27 million.

Fastweb and Sky Italia, the Italian satellite operator fully owned by News Corporation, have today announced a major joint partnership agreement regarding content distribution and co-marketing.

BT’s Italian subsidiary finally changed its brand to simply BT Italia, abandoning the previously used ‘Albacom’ brand.

After having recently disposed also of its Dutch operation, Tiscali announced a new three-year plan (2007- 2010) focusing on Italy and the UK only.
According to an official statement of the Board of Directors,

Tiscali will transition from Isp to full-service provider, delivering telecommunication and media integrated services to the end customer (with the relevant expansion on the physical access, voice and Iptv markets), through a full network and service IP model combining product innovation and marketing aggressiveness.

The Board of Directors of Telecom Italia officially announced today that:

the company intends to launch the transformation of the access network into a New Generation Network, enabling the transmission of high-definition television programmes, movies, music and video, as well as business and public services (tele-medicine, info-mobility etc.).
The “Next Generation Network” will also involve the separation from Telecom Italia of the access network, according to a model to be jointly developed with the Authority.

Starting next January, Vodafone will allow its customers to handle both mobile calls and fixed lines calls using the same handset, even for customers not owning a fixed line.
Thanks to number portability’s regulation, even customers cancelling their fixed line subscription will be able to continue using their mobile handset to answer calls directed to their ported fixed line number.

According to an analysis run by Internet performance monitoring company Renesys, Telecom Italia Sparkle has resulted as the largest IP carrier in terms of transit relationships in the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin

Telecom Italia published the new interconnection reference for 2007 offer containing all its wholesale services available to OLOs and ISPs.

After six years and € 3 bn invested in Italy, Fastweb have breached the 1 million broadband customers mark.