Italy: Opened AGCM investigation into Telecom Italia (TIM) regarding unilateral anticompetitive conduct in a public contract

On 19 December 2022, the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) opened an investigation into Telecom Italia (TIM) following a complaint by Fastweb. AGCM is requesting further information from TIM concerning the allegations by Fastweb that they have been withholding critical information concerning their partnership with Fastweb. This would have hindered Fastweb in competing with TIM for a public contract with the Italian publicly owned Consip to provide mobile networking for all of Italy's public administration. The withheld information concerns the level of coverage for each town in Italy, which must be communicated to Consip to participate in the tender for this public contract. Fastweb alleges that this is an unjustified unilateral and anti-competitive behaviour by TIM, which is the incumbent provider and might be construed as having market dominance within the market of this specific periodically renewed contract. TIM has a sixty-day window to testify against these allegations before AGCM. In the meantime, as TIM's alleged conduct and the prosecution of the operations would be causing significant damage to Fastweb, as well as a basis for the further deterioration of the competitiveness of this market, AGCM is evaluating provisional measures,