WRITTEN QUESTION E-2571/96 by Antonio Tajani (UPE) and Riccardo Garosci (UPE) to the Commission (11 October 1996)

Subject: GSM agreement, Omnitel - Italian Government

At a meeting with Antonio Maccanico, the Italian Minister for Post, held in Rome on 11 September 1996, the Commissioner responsible for competition, Karel Van Miert, stated that, with a view to closing the infringement proceedings which the Commission had brought against the Italy, Omnitel might receive compensation of approximately Lit 60 billion from the Italian Government. Mr Van Miert confirmed that the proceedings instituted against the Italian Government in October 1995 would be closed, that transitional licences would be issued, and that the amount agreed would be returned and paid as compensation by Omnitel.

In requiring Italy to favour Omnitel, which has anyway received numerous state subsidies, over other operators, the Commissioner does not appear to have acted in an impartial manner.

Can the Commission explain, therefore, how it is possible for one Commissioner, acting on his own, to judge and sentence Italy, agree the price to be paid and demand that payment be made, without ever having consulted anyone?

It must also be said that his behaviour is totally unprecedented and that, despite being in the same situation, no other Member States have experienced similar interference in their affairs by the Commission.

Answer given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission (5 November 1996)

Following Commission Decision 95/489/EC ((OJ L 280, 23.11.1995. )) of 4 October 1995 concerning the conditions imposed on the second operator of GSM (global system for mobile communications) radiotelephony services in Italy, the Italian Government notified the Commission of a series of corrective measures it intended to adopt in order to put an end to the distortion of competition resulting from the initial payment of Lit 750 billion imposed on Omnitel Pronto Italia (OPI) in respect of its GSM licence, in breach of Article 86 of the EC Treaty.

The Commission confirmed on 7 February 1996 that these corrective measures could ensure equal conditions for GSM operators on the Italian market once the measures were actually implemented as part of the liberalization process under way.

One of the measures consists in reducing the fee for interconnecting OPI's GSM network with Telecom Italia's switched telephone network by 25% in 1996 and 1997 (i.e. Lit 150 instead of Lit 200 a minute), up to an amount of Lit 60 billion at current prices.

The Commission has taken similar action in respect of other Member States which imposed an initial payment on the second operator alone. As a result, Belgium and Ireland decided to impose a similar payment on the public GSM operator and have since confirmed that this payment has been made.

The question of provisional licences is more general. Italy is in the process of transposing a number of liberalization directives in the telecommunications sector which should already have been implemented. The Commission has requested the Italian Government to grant provisional licences to interested firms at the same time in order to enable them to supply the services covered by those directives, particularly satellite communications, until such time as the transposal measures are formally adopted.