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MILAN, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The European Commission has askedItaly's telecoms regulator AGCOM to withdraw or amend proposedcuts to the wholesale broadband prices that Telecom Italia charges its rivals to access its network, saying themove would discourage investment.
In July AGCOM tentatively approved lower fees for rivals, amove that the former phone monopoly said would reduce its annualincome by 110 million euros ($152 million).
"AGCOM has set these fees on the basis of inappropriate dataand the way they are calculated has the potential to harmbroadband investment incentives for both Telecom Italia andother operators," the Commission said in a statement.
The statement confirms a Reuters report last week.
Previously the Commission had said it was concerned thatAGCOM had set prices based on a market review that was not up todate and that access prices for broadband services shouldreflect the most recent information.
Europe's top telecoms industry regulator Neelie Kroes istrying to align divergent national regulations to foster asingle market in the European Union for telecoms and wants toencourage more investment in building high-speed networks acrossthe bloc, but her efforts are opposed by some nationalregulators who do not want to hand over influence to Brussels.
Telecom Italia's rivals, Swisscom's Fastweb,Vodafone and Vimpelcom's Wind had welcomed theproposed cut in wholesale tariffs, saying it would open up amarket still dominated by the owner of the country's largestfixed-line network.
On Wednesday AGCOM commissioner Antonio Preto said thenational regulator had the last say on tariff decisions andcould decide whether to comply or not with the EUrecommendation.
If Italy decides to disregard it, however, the EU could openan enforcement action.
