Communications Regulatory Authority

– “Smart” services characterised by a special price determination system based
on the smart network of each operator. This category includes premium services,
shared charge services, free phone numbers and one-number services;
– Information services (such as directory assistance or information retrieval) and
the so-called STS (Supplementary Telephony Services, such as Memotel,
personal numbers, etc.).
Table 1.3. Traffic of fixed voice services by type (million/minutes)
Type of traffic 2004 2005
Local * 53,790 52,281
% Var. -3.7 -2.8
Long distance – National 42,060 40,167
% Var. -4.5 -4.5
Fixed-to-mobile 20,041 20,142
% Var. 4.5 0.5
International 3,633 3,596
% Var. -0.7 -1.0
Other ** 3,244 3,299
% Var. 1.3 1.7
Total 122,768 119,484
% Var. -2.5 -2.7
Source: IDC, 2006 | * Internet dial-up access excluded. ** Smart services, information
services and STS included
In this regard, it is important to point out that in 2005, following the opening of the
market to competitors many operators launched their information services for
subscribers. The liberalization of the service, decided at community level and envisaged
in the Code of electronic communications, produced the entry into the market of many
operators as well as the launch of massive advertising campaigns. AGCOM intervened
on the liberalization of the information service not only with the opening to the
provision of the service by a plurality of economic agents but also by laying down rules
and monitoring their effectiveness in order for the market to be really competitive: such
activity introduced interventions such as the reduction of the ceiling prices of calls for
directory assistance information services from fixed lines and the introduction of
restrictive regulations for call completion (cf. paragraph 2.2.).
As regards telephones lines installed, it can be estimated that in 2005, in Italy, there
were about 27.4 million lines (PSTN/ISDN) (figure 2.6.). In the same way as it occurred
in 2004, last year as well there has been a significant drop in the number of ISDN lines
(-6%, totalling about 400,000 lines), which have been replaced by the adoption of
broadband accesses, especially in ADSL technology. PSTN lines (figure 1.21.) show a
slight decrease (-0.7%).
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