St. Antony College, European Studies Centre
(Oxford, November 15 2002)
Italian
public policy in the field of communications and media
By
Paola M. Manacorda (*)
Within the scope of the
seminar series, focused on “New
dimensions in Italian Public Policies”, aim of this paper is to provide a
brief description of the major lines of policy recently taken by the Italian
Government on media and telecommunications sectors (if traditional definitions
are still meaningful in the convergent scenario set up by the new European
regulatory framework).
Regarding communications
sector, the fast deployment and the wide availability for final users of
broadband networks has been universally recognised as the name of the game by
market players, analysts, investors and institutions[1],
in the broader view of the Information Society development. A description is
provided on the regulatory and market framework as well as on initiatives taken
by the Government, together with some comments about the general approach adopted
and the results achieved so far.
As far as
the media sector is concerned, public policy in Italy in the last two years has
mainly focused on two issues. On one hand, a law and a regulation have been
drafted to define the transition to digital terrestrial, whereas on the other,
there has been much debate over the need for a new Broadcasting Act, which
should redefine, in the new convergent context, the rules of the game and, in
particular, those concerning antitrust limitations and the role of public
service broadcasting in the digital age.
The
role of public policies in the broadband networks development
As usual for innovation processes, technology will be the boost also for
Information Society development: the widespread availability of high speed,
always-on and interactive communications networks could enhance new business
opportunities, as well as increase efficiency of traditional businesses (mainly
due to e-commerce applications), with positive effects on productivity and
occupation rates.
(*) Commissioner, Italian Communication Authority
Higher availability of bandwidth can also support the achievement of
social goals, both at national level (with the diffusion of e-learning,
e-working, e-health, e-government applications) and at international level (as
a tool to reduce the digital divide).
In other words, broadband is the key element to meet the challenge
of the Information Society.
National governments and international institutions devote a peculiar
attention to the broadband issue: it just worth mentioning the European
Commission action plan e-Europe2005 [2], while a number of initiatives are
flourishing at national level.[3]
The role of public policies has considerably changed over the years;
earlier in 2000, competition in the infrastructures had been considered the
only way for the deployment of broadband. Public policies hence were simply
asked to allow market forces to roll-out; a crucial role had to be played by
national regulators in ensuring a pro-competitive environment, while governments
should limit their actions by encouraging private investments and promoting
initiative to enhance digital alphabetisation.
More recently, given the dramatic changes of the economic and financial
scenario, a less optimistic feeling has been spreading about the ability of the
private sector to drive the process and new options of public intervention are
emerging. Competition should
nevertheless remain the primary driver for broadband evolution; European Union
and OECD confirm their trust on competition and ask national governments to
avoid actions that can turn out into incentives to incumbent operators or can
anyway distort market dynamics and deter private investments.
Everywhere, the availability of alternative access networks has been
considered the critical issue for the fast deployment of broadband networks; in
Italy too, even after full liberalisation of 1998, Telecom Italia, the fixed
incumbent operator, retains a de facto
monopoly position in the local access segment[4].
Competition in the access market can be therefore granted in the short
term only with the unbundling of the incumbents’ local loop and with an
adequate upgrading of existing CATV networks, while in the mid-long term,
alternative fibre optic access networks should be implemented. Other
technologies (satellite, WLL) could play a subsidiary role, especially areas
with geographical constraints.
A peculiar national issue is the lack of CATV networks; Telecom
Italia’s local loop will be thus the unique short term solution for broadband
access. On the other hand, a good point is that Telecom Italia’s loops, due to
their peculiar features[5],
particularly well suit DSL technologies.
Another good point is the availability of cabling ducts connecting
about 2 million customers in several major cities; these facilities have been
built up by Telecom Italia within the so called Socrate Plan to be laid off in
1998; in 2001, the National Competition Authority imposed on Telecom Italia to
negotiate access to these strategic facilities with alternative operators[6].
A critical point for Italy can finally be considered
the peculiar social context; the absence of a widespread digital
alphabetisation and the low familiarity with English language can hinder the demand for higher bandwidth
services.
Public policies should take into account these
specific national elements in defining effective action plans.
Since the beginning of its office in 1997, AGCOM has been deeply focused
in fostering a long term facilities based competition[7].
In
march 2000 (anticipating also European initiatives of 2000[8]),
Italy has been one of the earlier countries to introduce local loop unbundling
obligations, imposing on Telecom Italia to provide a wide range of service and
options to competitors, and supervising step by step the implementation
process.
AGCOM caught the key role of local loop unbundling for
broadband networks deployment and forced Telecom Italia to provide DSL
wholesale offers to alternative networks operators and Internet service
providers, with the aim to avoid incumbent’s market preemption in this emerging
market.
Many additional regulatory
provisions have been taken by AGCOM as well in order to support competition in
the broadband market; it is worth mentioning the decision to admit ISPs to
Telecom Italia’s leased lines wholesale offer and DSL wholesale offers.
In July 2002, AGCOM issued
technical rules to open up Telecom Italia’s interconnection offer to ISPs,
according to national Law n.59/02[9].
Such regulatory effort has given quite satisfactory results: local loop
unbundling implementation process is well under way and, at September 2002,
about 82.000 unbundled lines have been reported and about 70% of them have been
upgraded with DSL. Italy is the second country in the European benchmark for
local loop unbundling development (following Germany, but very far beyond UK,
France and Spain), a success case in a mostly distressed European framework.
A success can be reported also for Telecom Italia’s DSL wholesale
offers (about 165.000 wholesale lines supplied to competitors) and for Telecom
Italia’s retail offers (about 420.000 final customers connected).
The broadband access market figures finally show about 60.000 final
customers connected by satellite and about 50.000 customers directly served
with alternative fibre optic networks.
The general framework outlines a national broadband market with about
700.000 customers served at mid-2002, with a speedy growth expected by end
2002.
Initiatives
of the Government
Within the described
regulatory and market context, the Government has also considered public
intervention aimed at enhancing the broadband development process; the
appointment of a Ministry for Technological Innovation and of a Ministerial
Committee for the Information Society (responsible for addressing initiatives
of all national Public Administrations) are strong signals of such commitment.
The formal declaration that broadband is an essential condition for the
economic development of the Nation -
with the target to transform Italy into a knowledge based society at 2006 - dates
at July 2001[10]; so far,
several initiatives have been outlined and some of them have been already put
into practice.
TheBroadband
Task Force Report
In September 2001, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry for
Technological Innovation jointly appointed a Broadband Task Force, in charge of
monitoring the state of implementation of broadband networks and evaluating
proposals for actions.
In November 2001, the Task Force issued a Report[11],
with the active contribution of operators, local administrations, trade
associations and experts, and submitted it for the approval by the Ministries.
The Report opens with a new definition of broadband as “..the technological environment that permits
the use of digital technologies at maximum level of interactivity..”; this
open notion, not referred to a specific technological context, seems to be
particularly suitable in a changing scenario and overcomes the divergent
approaches so far adopted for broadband definition[12].
The Report underlines the necessity of a virtuous circle of expansion,
with a range of broadband services and applications (since no killer
application has been recognised) increasing the demand of higher bandwidth and
driving the take off of further investments in infrastructures. The Report
considers competition alone unable to guarantee this circle; private investors
seem stuck in a “wait and see” position, looking for clearer signals from the demand.
Government should play a role in addressing and supporting the demand
and the supply of broadband; the envisaged public approach should be however
taken in an indirect and selective manner;
Government’s commitment should be focused on stimulating demand (both by
public side and private side) and supporting private investments.
According to these guidelines, the Task Force outlines a range of lines of action:
a)
the promotion of new networks deployment has to be reached optimising the use of
public resources and complementing private sector only with selective actions.
An important role can be played by the Government with proposals for first
level regulation and administrative actions which minimise uncertainties for
operators and foster the use of different technologies (WLL, satellite) to
overcome geographical constraints;
b) fiscal incentives for operators and end users can support both supply
and demand sides;
c) aggregation of public demand with a “central purchasing system” has been
envisaged as a mean to support supply side;
d) development of public digital
services and digital educational programs could increase digital needs of
citizens and support the demand side;
e) a continuous and in depth monitoring activity on the effectiveness of
public initiatives has to be managed, especially in terms of geographical
distribution and range of technologies available.
The Report confirms anyway the crucial role of sector regulation,
pointing out competition in the access market (in a broader sense,
including also leased lines provision and rights of way regulation) as the key
issue for the broadband case.
Guidelines and proposal for a National Plan for the
development of broadband
After the approval of the
Report, in February 2002, the Government issued Guidelines for a National Plan
for the development of broadband.
The final objective of the public commitment should be the definition
of the minimum level of interactivity
that will have to be granted in 2005 to the maximum level of population.
National territory should be classified into three areas (A, B, C), with
decreasing levels of digital development, and different targets in terms of
broadband development timescale and availability; area A should be provided
with broadband capability in a very short timescale, starting the virtuous
circle of demand and investments also in B and C areas.
Finally, the Guidelines draw up a planning for a set of detailed
actions substantially consistent with Task Force’s suggestions; especially, the
Government agree with an indirect policy approach: just as an explanation of
this approach, fiscal incentives should work just in order to de-tax future
private investments, aiming at increasing them and generating new permanent
fiscal revenues, without any present burden for public budget.
A the same time, the
Government appointed an Executive Committee, with the objective to define a
general action plan for broadband development, including financing issues.
In May 2002, the Executive Committee has submitted to the Committee for
the Information Society some targets and some figures for public intervention
for broadband developments.
Regarding the targets of penetration at 2005, broadband connections
should be provided to 85-90% of public building; 65% of private business
segment; 35% of private residential.
Regarding financing proposals, the plan provides, for the period
2003-2005, a 500 million euros investment will have to be granted on
infrastructure policies, this public effort is expected to enhance private
investments for additional 2500 million euros.
About 1.200 million euros have been assessed for promotion of public
demand, and 100 million euros (eventually, increasing up 200) for promotion of
private demand.
The Committee also foresee a final positive balance of such investments,
arising from additional savings and fiscal revenues.
Some of the described
proposal for actions have been already put in place and now producing effects
on the market.
At first, several important legislative and administrative measures have
been taken. In September 2002, Decree n.
198/2002[13] finally
sets out clear and common rules at national level for network installation
activities; a few provisions can be underlined: the definition of a fast
authorization procedure (with short terms for response by local administrations
and a silent procedure system); the central role of the Ministry of
Communications for coordination of digging activities and for promotion of
civil infrastructure sharing; the harmonisation of the
level of digging fees imposed by the local administrations and a prohibition
for them to impose any additional burden for
digging activities; provisions enabling the constructions of vertical ducts in
new buildings. The decree has been enthusiastically commented by operators,
while some constitutional concerns have been raised by local administrations.
In April 2002, another regulatory intervention planned by the
Guidelines has been turned into practice; Law
n.59/2002 allowed also to ISPs to access to Telecom Italia’s
Interconnection Offer, demanding operational rules to AGCOM[14].
During 2002, the Ministry of Communications awarded WLL licenses,
according to the general framework set out by AGCOM. The results of the auction
granted about 35 million revenues for public budget and ensured a national
potential coverage by two operators at least.
A fundamental role, in the context of the indirect approach method, can
be played by e-government initiatives, since they can stimulate the demand for
new services and applications both by final consumers and by Public
Administration itself.
The Government asked to local administrations to submit, by June 2002,
their digitalisation projects, with the aim to gain savings of about 50% in
respect of traditional systems. These projects should be financed, for no more
than 50% of their total costs, using 400 million euros taken by UMTS fund. The
project submitted have been about 400 covering about 90% of population; since the total value of projects submitted
has been estimated approximately in 1.200 million euros, while the first amount
of financing has been reduced to 120 million euros, the Ministry has selected
138 projects to be financed in a first round.
Other noteworthy actions for
e-government: the opening of the new government website (in June 2002); the
start up of an electronic ID (the target is 1,5 million ID cards issued by 2003
and a total national coverage by 2006) and digital subscription projects. These
objectives should be verified and, eventually, reassessed considering the
amount of money that will be devoted to e-government issue by the State
budget.
Some proposal of economic
incentives are now under evaluation under the draft of National Financial Act
for 2003.
Article 14 sets out a specific fund for initiatives of Ministry of
Innovation and Technologies and better defines role and powers of the Ministry
itself. A 100 million euros budget has been proposed for 2003.
A specific provision (article 44) of the draft is a contribution of 75
euros to each household (for a total investment of 31 million euros) to
encourage the take-off of digital television as well as broadband connections;
for broadband connection the measure should work as a discount on the
subscription fee for access services, starting in 2003.
Still for 2003, the Government is considering to reduce the amount of
the annual contribution paid by all licensed operators exclusively for those
operators who have invested in broadband networks; the exact references of this
proposal are not so clear yet.
Aggregation of public demand
projects have been launched; the procedural rules and the technological
platform to manage on-line auctions are ready. Still remain some disputes
regarding the role of local administrations and some concerns regarding the
potential impact on competition.
It is probably too early to draw up final conclusions regarding the
effectiveness of national public policies to support broadband development.
It can be certainly affirmed that the present sector regulation is quite
consolidated and keen to support competition for the new emerging segment of
broadband; measures taken by AGCOM put Italy in a leading role in terms of
regulation for broadband at international level.
On the other hand, any evaluation on Government’s assistance policies
has to be suspended.
This not only because the process has just begun and the deadline for
target has been fixed at 2005-2006 (substantially in line with the deadline of
Parliament’s appointment), but also because the general economic and financial
scenario risks to reduce considerably the amount of resources for public
policies on innovation technology.
Draft proposals of Financial Act 2003 raised several concerns among
operators and analysts regarding a reduced effort of the Government. Recently,
the Ministry for Technological Innovation has confirmed Government's,
nevertheless, investment planned for 2003 seem quite far from the measures and
the figures expected by the market.
Initiatives regarding aggregation of public demand have been facing
mentioned implementing difficulties directly arising from the difficult balance
of powers between central and local administrations.
Finally, a general concern can be referred to the approach adopted by
Governments on the broadband issue and the potential trade off between fast
development of the market and sustainable competition; this concern is not
specifically referred to the national case, but it has to be analysed in the
light of the debate emerging across Europe.
In general terms, this concern makes sense, whereas the development of
broadband has became a strategic economic policy issue and whereas all national
governments started to push heavily for a quicker roll out of broadband market,
mainly emphasising the role of incumbent operators. Is it clear indeed,
especially in a start up process, that only incumbent operators can supply a
fast and widespread roll out of broadband service at affordable prices.
Italian regulatory environment has been provided with a range of regulatory
tools in order to avoid market distortion; initiatives taken and outlined so
far by the Government seem to be consistent with a competitive scenario as
well.
Nevertheless, an “hand by hand” cooperation between the Government and
sector specific regulator, as well as with the national competition authority,
seems to be useful in order to address all initiatives to final targets without
distorting market dynamics.
Transition from analogue to digital broadcasting will be a very
challenging process in Italy due to some peculiar features of the broadcasting
environment. The terrestrial spectrum in Italy is completely occupied. There
are at the moment approximately 700 local and 11 national broadcasters. Most of
them do not hold any licence, they have occupied the frequencies following a
decision of the Costitutional Court in 1976 which deliberated that the monopoly
of public service broadcasting was not justified at local level.
Unfortunately,
a systematic Broadcasting Act was issued only in 1990 when the situation had
already settled down.
In this context, there is no spare capacity to allocate to current
broadcasters or new operators to start up simulcast of existing programs and
new digital terrestrial services.
The
transition to digital although is considered crucial and of paramount
importance for two reasons: it will give the chance to reorganize the
allocation of the spectrum and it will give way to the creation of convergent
services delivered via the TV set, bridging the digital gap and turning the
e-society into a reality.
Nevertheless,
given the situation, it will necessarily have to take a different path than
those employed in other countries.
The
main legislative steps envisaging this process are two: the law n. 66 and
regulation n.435/01/CONS by AGCOM[15].
The law, passed in April 2001, takes into consideration the very
peculiar situation existing in Italy as far as broadcasting is concerned: no
capacity available for simulcasting of digital and analogue; very little chance
to sort out the situation as the prerogatives of local broadcasters in
maintaining the use of the frequencies are protected by administrative
tribunals; no digital plan adopted and therefore no idea of how many channels
and services will be available in the new digital context.
In
this situation, allowing broadcasters to trade their frequencies appeared to be
the only way to push small local channels to give up their capacity. This will
allow national broadcasters (cable, satellite and terrestrial) and consortium
of operators to start up digital programmes with the acquired capacity.
The analogue TV environment is dominated by vertically integrated
broadcasters who operate along the whole value chain. They have the frequencies
and manage the network infrastructures, they produce, acquire and organise the
content into daily schedules, they operate, as far as pay-tv operators are
concerned, conditional access services.
The AGCOM regulation, on the
basis of what is already established by the law 66, regulates according to a
different business model. One of the key issues of the Regulation is in fact
the distinction between network operator, service provider and content
provider.
Network operators, who will manage the networks infrastructures and the frequencies, will be granted a license, whereas content providers (i.e. the channels) and service providers (providers of conditional access services or information society services) will operate on the basis of an authorization.
Each operator focuses on a
single function of the value chain. This model has several advantages: the frequencies
are managed more efficiently by a network operator whose interest will be to
optimize the use of the capacity he is allocated and content
providers that are not broadcasters now (e.g. newspaper or magazine editors)
will have the chance to enter the television market without the burden of
putting up and managing a network.
The
underlying principle of this model is that the network operators will assess
which channels to broadcast according to their business plans and target
audiences and will freely negotiate conditions with the independent channels.
The government has not set any limitation to this freedom of the network
operator.
Neither
is there an “ex ante” limitation to
the number of multiplex that a network operator can be awarded. This is due to
the consideration that, in order to make it a viable business there will
probably not be more than two or three network operators. Putting up a
limitation of 20% on the ownership of the frequencies could prove to be
anti-economic. One full multiplex though is reserved to the public service
broadcaster.
Until March 2004, broadcasters with terrestrial, satellite or cable
licences may apply to the Ministry of
Communications for an authorization for experimentation with digital program
broadcasting and “information society” services on terrestrial frequencies.
They
will be using frequencies acquired by local broadcasters to start up tests and
commercial services.
If
they have more than one terrestrial licence (e.g. RAI, Mediaset, La sette) 40%
of the acquired capacity will have to be granted to independent content
providers during the transitional period.
The “experimental authorization”, which can be issued to consortium participated by broadcasters and publishers, multimedia content producers etc., will be valid until July 2005.
As from March 31, 2004 those who hold an
experimental authorization may apply to the Ministry of Communications for the
granting of the network operator license, for the same areas and frequencies
for which the prior authorization was granted.
After
the switch over date (December 2006) the Authority will periodically publish
the number of additional frequencies available that will be granted to existing
licensee or to other subjects requesting the licence. This model justifies the
very close switch over date. This should constitute a further incentive for
national and local broadcasters to make the transition to new business models.
In
order to preserve pluralism and competition, the Regulation reserves one third
of the broadcasting capacity to local content providers.
National
networks will be allowed to carry local content. This is due to the need to
encourage local broadcaster (more than 700 operators in Italy) to find an
agreement with the network operators (that will be mainly national) and free
their frequencies in exchange for a portion of a multiplex.
Most
local broadcasters in Italy will not have the financial resources to switch to
digital. Most of them will therefore become mere content providers carried on
national networks, whereas some of the most important local broadcaster are
trying to reach agreement to create their own local networks.
On top of that, a content provider may not be granted authorizations for free-to-air or encrypted broadcasting which would allow them to broadcast more than twenty per cent of national digital television programmes. The ex-ante threshold is set on content providers.
By 2004 the Authority will
issue rules aimed at guaranteeing access by content providers that are not
directly or indirectly related to network operators and principles in order to
guarantee, when resources are not sufficient to satisfy all reasonable requests
by content providers, access to broadcasting capacity by all content providers
on non-discriminatory basis.
An intense debate has been
engaged in the country, for the past two-three years, over the need to rethink
the whole legislative framework governing the media sector.
The digitalization and the
end of the scarcity of resources as well as the emergence of new business
models in the industry pushed the government to issue a project of law that
modifies the existing rules in two main areas: the antitrust rules in the
sector and the role of public service broadcasting.
As
far as the first issue is concerned, the existing system, set by a law of 1990
and reviewed with the law of 1997, sets three kinds of so called “ex-ante” limitation:
o A
threshold for the use of technical resources: a broadcaster cannot be
allocated more than 20% of the available frequencies;
o A
threshold for the use of economic
resources: each broadcaster can’t gather more than 30% of the economic
resources of the television sector (the resources of the sector were identified
as those coming from TV advertising, public service fees and pay-tv
subscription); the law set an “ex-ante”
threshold for each specific market: terrestrial TV, satellite/cable tv, radio.
o A cross-ownership limitation: newspaper editors with over 16% market
share couldn’t be granted a terrestrial TV licence.
The
new project of law presented by the Government few weeks ago[16] introduces sensible changes.
To
start with, there would be no more cross-ownership restrictions between press
and TV. This would allow traditional newspaper editors to enter the television
business and put together channels to be broadcast over the future digital
terrestrial networks. Although this makes much sense in the new convergent context,
it could lead to even stronger dominant
position of existing editorial and broadcasting groups.
What
is most relevant though, is the amendment of the threshold for the gathering of
economic resources. Rather than a specific limitation for each market, the
project of laws states that subjects who by law have to enrol in the “Register
of Communications Operator” (broadcasters, advertising agencies, press editor,
content producers, etc) cannot gather more than 20% of the total resources of
the so called “integrated system of communications”, which is not better
specified, but supposedly could include all kind of activities in the
communications sector: from press to home video to tv production. Again, if
this could appear to be widely justified by the new convergent context, the new
threshold appears to be extremely vague and undefined. On top of that, it has
been figured out that, with this new law, subject such as Mediaset or RAI,
which are considered to be in a dominant position under the current standards,
might further enlarge their turnover and still keep below the threshold.
As
far as specific markets within the integrated system of communications, there
is no ex-ante limitation: the AGCOM
though will be called to evaluate the existence of dominant position according
to the traditional competition analysis.
As far as public service broadcasting is concerned, the new act tries to
redefine what public service is both in terms of the programming obligations
and of the mission of a PSB company in the digital era.
In
terms of programming, the act states what kind of programs the public
broadcasters will be obliged to produce and broadcast: the details of which
(no. of hours exc.) will be defined every three years within a contract between
the PSB and the Minister, drafted on the base of guidelines issued by AGCOM.
More
remarkably, PSB will be for the first time subject to accounting separation.
Annual fees paid by viewers to finance public service broadcasting will be used
solely to fund public service programming as defined by the contract. The
separate accounting will be reviewed by a consultancy service and the AGCOM.
The AGCOM is also in charge for monitoring the performance of PSB and make sure
that the programs are scheduled and broadcast according the law and contract.
On
top of the programming obligations, the legislator has identified a mission for
the PSB in the convergent era by assigning it the task to encourage the
transition to digital terrestrial. RAI will have to turn on at least two
digital multiplexes by July 2003. The digital network must have national
coverage (80% of the population) by
2005.
This
will be an extremely challenging and expensive task for RAI, as it will not
entail just the creation of the networks and the channels: if RAI will consider
the creation of digital channels its key public service broadcasting mission in
the convergent era, it will necessarily
have to become involved in the subsidy and distribution of digital receivers to
the public. As the experience in most countries has widely proved, this is the
most critical aspect in the transition to digital terrestrial.
As
far as the corporate structure of the PSB is concerned, RAI, which is assigned
for the next 12 year the function of public service broadcaster, will be
privatised and turned into a stock company. Its Board, currently composed of 5
members appointed by the Presidents of the two Houses, will be made of 9
members, elected by the assembly of shareholders, with one member appointed by
the Ministry of Finance.
Few doubts exist on the importance of the transition to digital
terrestrial and both the government and the AGCOM have stressed in several ways
their commitment for the achievement of this goal. Still, some questions remain
to be answered. Will the frequency trading be the right incentive to push
private broadcasters towards the creation of digital networks? Experience in
other countries have provided evidence that commercial broadcasters, whose
break-even prospects are linked to the existence of a potential audiences, are
very cautious in launching services before a critical mass of digital receivers
are deployed. In a digital terrestrial transition plan based on free to air television
rather than pay, the leading role must be maybe played by the public service
broadcaster and a specific responsibility has to be taken by the government in
the subsidy and diffusion of digital receivers. Will RAI be able to have a
strategic view on the future and consistently undertake this task? Will the
government be ready to support adequately this new mission of the public
service broadcaster both through
specific funding and an effective action plan for the diffusion of the
receivers? And will the government be able to meet the deadline of December
2006 for the switch-off of analogue television? Only if this deadline is
considered realistic by the operators and the viewers, we’ll see an effective
commitment towards the accomplishment of this goal by all the actors
involved.
[1] Actually, the broadband development
is a key issue for the general economic environment, not only for ICT sector;
OECD Document “The development of
broadband access in OECD countries” (DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)/2) declares that “The development of broadband access …is
gaining increasing prominence. This is occurring in fields that go well beyond
communications policy”, and point out the role that broadband networks can
play in generating higher economic growth.
[2] European Union’s commitment for
Information Society development started with e-Europe 2002 Action Plan. In June
2002, the Action Plan has been reviewed and updated with new actions by 2005,
with the aim to support private investments and promote safer services,
applications and content based on a widely available broadband infrastructure.
[3] A comprehensive compendium of
actions taken for the development of broadband network in OECD countries is
reported in OECD document “Broadband
infrastructure deployment: the role of government assistance” (DSTI/ICCP/TISP(2001)8).
[4] No issue on the availability of
backbone and local distribution networks, as far as many national
infrastructures, deployed in the monopolistic scenario by public utilities
companies for their own private communications, are now available for public
communications. After 1998, many alternative operators invested in distribution
networks in the metropolitan areas and major cities.
[5] The average length of Telecom
Italia’s loops is of about 1 Km; this should ensure a good quality to DSL
applications.
[6] Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato – decision 9142 of January 2001, on http://www.agcm.it/.
[7] All decisions taken by AGCOM can be found on
AGCOM website http://www.agcom.it.
[8] E-Europe 2002 Action Plan (June
2000) and 2887/2000/EC Regulation, issued on December 2000.
[9] http://www.agcom.it/L_naz/l_59_2002.htm.
[10] DPEF 2002-2006 (Economic and
Finance Planning Document) issued by the Government in July 2001.
[11] All Government’s initiatives can be
found on
http://www.innovazione.gov.it/ita/intervento/banda_larga/index.shtml.
[12] Broadband definition is still
disputed at international level: some use bandwidth as a parameter (reaching
also different conclusions: ITU refers to a bandwidth higher than 1,5 Mbit/s,
while OECD suggests a lower “commercial” level of 256 Kbit/s downstream and 128
Kbit/s upstream). Some countries have preferred a different approach, based
on the range and the features of services
provided over the network.
[13] http://www.senato.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/02198dl.htm
[14] AGCOM issued these rules in July
2002, with decision n. 9/02/CIR.
[15]
http://www.agcom.it/L_naz/l_66_2001.htm
http://www.agcom.it/provv/d_435_01_CONS.htm