WRITTEN QUESTION No. 49/99 by Roberta ANGELILLI to the Commission. Increases in the cost of mobile telephone calls and infringement of competition
Date: 1999-01-15
Institutions: ANGELILLI, European Parliament
Subjects: Italy, advertising malpractice, consumer protection, economic survey, infringement of EU law, liberalisation of the market, radio telecommunications, restriction on competition, telephone charges

C 207/170

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.7.1999

(1999/C 207/237)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-0049/99

by Roberta Angelilli (NI) to the Commission

(15 January 1999)

Subject: Increases in the cost of mobile telephone calls and infringement of competition

In the last few days the Italian press has announced the new charges for mobile telephone calls put forward
simultaneously by Telecom Italia Mobile and Omnitel. These increases, which are particularly sizeable in
certain cases, are totally unjustified, since calls from fixed to mobile telephones would cost up to four times as
much as those from mobile phones to fixed telephones and between mobile telephones. Furthermore, the
companies are profitable enough for such increases to be unwarranted, and they would above all penalize
those who use mobile phones in the course of their work.

In view of this, can the Commission say:

1. whether the announcement of the new charges by TIM can be considered as misleading advertising, since
it does not make it sufficiently clear that two units are charged every time a call is answered, and whether
the statements made by the firms, who attribute responsibility for the increase to a decision by the
telecommunications authority (which in fact has no competence in this sector), can also be considered as
misleading;

2. whether the fact that the charges coincide exactly and are being increased at exactly the same time does
not give cause to believe that there is an agreement between the two companies to the detriment of the
consumer and hence a monopoly which could contravene the rules of competition in the sector;

3. whether, even if the increases are withdrawn as a result of a decision by the telecommunications authority
and protests by consumer organizations and users, what has happened makes one suspect that the two
companies have entered into agreements which may constitute a dangerous potential infringement of
competition;

4. whether it does not deem it appropriate to take action to draw up recommendations to prevent a

repetition of such events in future?

Joint answer
to Written Questions P-0027/99, E-0036/99, P-0047/99 and P-0049/99
given by Mr Van Miert on behalf of the Commission

(16 February 1999)

The two GSM operators in Italy have applied identical charges for calls from fixed to mobile telephones since
the mobile market was opened up to competition. The tariff structure (two business tariffs and a family tariff,
with peak and off-peak rates in each case) was particularly complicated.

The peak-hour rates were among the highest in the Community. In 1998 the Commission launched an
investigation into the levels of charges practised in the different Member States for fixed-to-mobile telephone
traffic. The investigation concerned TIM and Omnitel among others.

In December 1998 the two operators simultaneously notified the Italian communications authority of a new,
simplified tariff structure that included a single charge, instead of four separate charges, for the termination of
business calls. Under the new structure, these peak-hour charges were reduced but off-peak charges were
increased significantly, particularly for business subscribers. These new tariff bands were introduced
simultaneously by both operators at the beginning of 1999. However, this tariff restructuring was heavily
criticised. The Italian competition authority launched an investigation under the Competition Law of
10 October 1990, and by 12 January 1999 the two operators had restored their old charges. The Commission
is awaiting the results of the investigation and, as a matter of principle, will not intervene in the interim.