Tlc

Networks, US Big Tech in the trenches over new Agcom intervention

The Authority wants to extend the general authorisation requirement to all Cdn operators. For Agcom it is equal treatment for Dazn, but the platforms see a prelude to fair share

12 April 2025

3' min read

The spectre of a new regulatory obligation in Italy agitates the large American providers of cloud services and online video content. At the centre of these obligations are the invisible spines of the web: the Cdn, the content distribution networks that power video streaming, cloud computing, and much of the everyday digital experience.

Agcom, in the context of a public consultation, envisaged extending the application of the general authorisation regime envisaged by the Electronic Communications Code to all companies that own or manage, on Italian territory, a content distribution infrastructure - Cdn (content delivery network) - used to convey its own product or to provide the service to third parties.

In the first category, to cite the best known examples, there are the likes of Amazon (with its video-on-demand service Amazon Prime Video), Netflix, Paramount. In the second group, that of cloud providers, we find among others Amazon itself (with Aws), Akamai, Cloudfare. Then there are those who, like Google and Microsoft, use their own Cdn infrastructure both for their own content and to provide a service to third parties.

Cdn are networks consisting of a set of geographically distributed servers, aimed at speeding up and optimising the delivery of content to end users. For the Authority, this is a specific type of network to be regulated.

The new initiative has its roots in the landing in Italy of Dazn, the video streaming platform specialising in sports, to which the Lega Serie A has ceded the audiovisual rights for the top championship (initially for three seasons and now after the new announcement, until 2028-29). Initial viewing difficulties brought the issue to the centre of attention (and criticism) and under the spotlight of Agcom. The Authority issued a directive precisely because of the national public interest of the service, i.e. the broadcasting of Serie A matches. And Dazn, following this, acquired the general authorisation.

Now Agcom intends to extend the obligation to all Cdn operators. The basic analysis is that having Cdn is equivalent to owning pieces of infrastructure for which the same obligations must apply as for telcos and traditional operators. Communications Code in hand, the Ministry of Enterprise and the Made in Italy (Mimit) could also enact a specific regulation at a later date. For traditional operators it is a question of fairness of the rules in a changing market. Tim's CEO, Pietro Labriola, notes in a post on Linkedin that behind every streaming video 'there is an infrastructure that works non-stop. Cdn are a fundamental piece of it. Yet those who manage them do not have to respect the same rules of the game as network operators. This is why the consultation launched by Agcom represents a turning point'.

The consultation in theory expires on Monday 14 April, but several stakeholders have asked for more time to respond. According to the interpretations of some of the American companies, the regulatory initiative risks being a way of making it necessary to formalise commercial interconnection agreements with network operators (telcos such as Tim or Wind Tre, for example), with Agcom acting as arbiter, and would even constitute a potential conflict of interest, because there are telephone companies that are meanwhile developing their own Cdn.

The theory, then, is that this could be a first step towards bringing back in through the window a mechanism comparable to the 'fair share' or 'telco levy': a contribution or 'levy' for the development and maintenance of Tlc networks, which even at the urging of the telcos a part of the government (Mimit in favour, the Digital Department against) had tried to introduce by amendment last autumn, starting with the Cdn.

At this stage, the European Union has momentarily shelved the dossier, while the US, even under Trump's leadership, continues to consider it a potential non-tariff barrier and has reserved a paragraph for it in the 'National trade estimate report' document that laid the groundwork for the lunge on duties. Inevitably, one would think that among Big Tech, someone would now report the Italian news to the Washington administration as well.

Carmine FotinaVicecaposervizio
- @CFotina
- Email
Luogo: Roma
Lingue parlate: inglese, spagnolo
Argomenti: Politica industriale, commercio estero, innovazione digitale, tlc
Scheda autore
Trust project
Andrea BiondiVicecaposervizio
Luogo: Milano
Lingue parlate: Italiano, Inglese, Francese
Argomenti: Finanza, Media, Telecomunicazioni, Economia dell'entertainment, Innovazione
Scheda autore
Trust project