Fibercop defends its new price list: ‘We need affordable prices to invest’
The company is awaiting AGCOM’s decision on wholesale tariffs and argues that the increases will encourage the switch from copper to fibre. “The important thing is to get started; then, if we need to make any adjustments, we’ll make them.”
The issue is technical, but the stakes are political and industrial: who will pay, and how much, to use the Italian fixed-line network in the coming years. Fibercop, the network operator led by Massimo Sarmi and controlled by the consortium headed by KKR – which includes the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and F2i – is awaiting AGCOM’s ruling in July on the new wholesale price list submitted in April. But in the meantime, faced with resistance from operators, it is defending its decisions: “Telecoms service prices in Italy are among the lowest in Europe. Even with the new wholesale prices proposed by Fibercop, they will still be the lowest in Europe,” says Giovanni Moglia, Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer at Fibercop.
This comment comes in the context of a study conducted by Arthur D. Little, which is due to be officially presented around the turn of the summer and has been previewed to the press. “Italia has the lowest wholesale prices in the European benchmark analysed. Regulated tariffs for Fttc (fibre-to-the-cabinet) and FttH (fibre-to-the-home) services vary significantly across European countries, with the Italia range falling below the European average, which ranges from 19 to 29.5 euros per month. Specifically, with regard to Fttc in Italia, the new Fibercop price list sets prices ranging from €14 to €15; in Germany, the price of comparable services exceeds €23; in the UK, it is €21; and in Belgium, it exceeds €15”, explained Elisabetta Cafforio, a partner at Arthur D. Little.
The new price list, adds Moglia, “forms part of the major investments that Fibercop is currently undertaking – 10 billion euros between July 2024 and 2027 – in a telecommunications sector that has seen a total of 70 billion in investment over the last 15 years. Fibercop aims to connect over 20 million residential properties by 2027.”
Furthermore, according to Fibercop’s Chief Regulatory Affairs Officer, ‘the new price list is intended to encourage the migration from copper to fibre and the adoption of fibre by customers. Prices for FTTH fibre services will fall. In this way, the price of copper services facilitates the migration to fibre where available, whilst remaining more affordable in the rest of the country.”
That said, and whilst supporting the decisions taken as part of the proposed revision of wholesale price lists – currently under review by AGCOM – Fibercop appears to be leaving the door open to any possible changes of course: ‘The important thing is to start reviewing the tariffs; then, if the increases need to be scaled back, we will scale them back.’
