Italy’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications granted Telecom Italia permission to operate a Digital European Cordless Telephone wireless network after a year of deliberations. Called Fido, the system allows customers to use a cordless phone as both a home and wireless phone.
The authorization has been surrounded by controversy, with some accusing the company of taking advantage of its dominant position in the fixed-line market to compete with mobile phone operators, according to news reports.
Telecom Italia will be required to follow guidelines set by the communications ministry, including creating an autonomous division to manage public use of the standard and publishing separate financial results six months after the launch of DECT service. The company also will have to maintain a split between the DECT service and other telephone services, including separate advertising.
Before receiving the authorization, Telecom Italia’s managing director, Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, told Italian newspapers that the company has “always emphasized clearly our absolute readiness to separate the accounts. We believe that the control of the risk of cross-subsidies is sufficiently guaranteed with the separation of accounts.”
Omnitel Pronto Italia, a privately held wireless company that competes with Telecom Italia’s sister company, Telecom Italia Mobile, says it will not launch a DECT system. The Global System for Mobile communications operator had urged Italian officials to adopt clear rules in regard to granting DECT authorization to ensure fair competition.
“Being a mobile telecommunications service, DECT should be regulated as such,” said the company last year. “Rules and conditions of access to the landline network must therefore be established along the same lines as those stipulated for interconnection with mobile network operators.”
