Abstract

Twenty years ago the telecommunication industry was offering voice and data, both with fixed and mobile lines. Today's world is totally different, new products and services are offered by Ott's and web firms, voice value is depreciated. In this context the decline of the Italian Tlc industry is not a simple decline of revenues; it regards the non-renewal of network infrastuctures, the so called NGNs. And NGNs are increasingly essential in offering new megabit hungry services. Trends of Italian demand, competition and regulation have been much influenced by the incumbent's strategic behaviour, sistematically addressed to the exploitation of his monopoly of access for anticompetitive goals. Besides, the incumbent's investment strategy has clearly been a strategy of non-investment in fiber NGNs: a choice surely motivated by the huge level of financial debts, but also by the rational will to mantain monopolistic power (in access) and the correlated monopolistic margins. Olo's had to deal with the incumbent's above-mentioned strategies and behaviour, which have obviously impacted their growth opportunities. Only a huge investment process, along with a true equality of access and the focusing of a new clear business model could allow a much needed revitalization of the Italian Tlc industry. A hard task.