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Italy’s Antitrust Authority Fines Telecom Groups

By  |  February 2, 2020

Italy’s antitrust authority announced on Friday, January 31, it had fined Italy’s top four phone operators a total of €228 million euros (192US$252.9 million pounds) for breaching competition rules by collectively agreeing to raise their prices. 

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    The watchdog opened a probe against Telecom Italia, Vodafone, CK Hutchison’s unit Wind Tre, and Swisscom’s Fastweb in 2018, claiming the carriers had agreed to raise tariffs after they had been forced to scrap a billing scheme based on 28 days rather than a full month. 

    Italian consumer association Altroconsumo, which actively campaigned against the companies’ billing practices, stated the fines were equal to €114 million (US$126.4 million) euros for Telecom Italia, €60 million (US$66.6 million) euros for Vodafone, €39 million (US$43.3 million) euros for Wind Tre and the rest for Fastweb.

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