OXFORD, United Kingdom-Following a long series of regulatory battles, Telecom Italia (TI) finally closed down after just a few months of operation its FIDO cordless terminal mobility service.
Designed to offer local mobility to fixed network subscribers, FIDO was based on DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) technology. TI had faced continual challenges from Italy’s mobile operators, who argued FIDO was a mobile service-not simply an access technology to a fixed line-and should therefore pay the same interconnect rates as fixed networks.
The European Commission then weighed in expressing concerns about cross-subsidization.
The final blow came with the departure of TI’s Chief Executive Officer Tomaso Tommasi di Vignano, FIDO’s champion. His replacement, former Telecom Italia Mobile CEO Vito Gamberale, had always seen FIDO as a threat to TIM’s cellular subscriber base. Gamberale himself has now resigned from the board of TI, but FIDO preceded him.
TI launched FIDO in January after an expenditure of more than US$450 million. By the end of March there were 40,000 subscribers to the service. During the same time period, Italy’s cellular networks gained more than 2 million new subscribers. FIDO was doomed, signalling an end to Europe’s first experiment in fixed-mobile convergence.
