[co-author: Gabriele Giunta]

On 16 November 2016, the Italian Competition Authority (the “Authority”) opened a proceeding against Vodafone Italia and Telecom Italia for alleged abusive conducts in the bulk SMS market. According to the Authority, both companies would have abused their dominant position in the upstream market of SMS termination services through alleged abusive conducts aimed at excluding or limiting other competitors’ ability to compete in the downstream bulk SMS market.

According to the Authority, Vodafone Italia and Telecom Italia would have implemented a margin squeeze strategy in breach of Article 102 TFUE. In particular, the tariffs applied by Vodafone Italia and Telecom Italia in the upstream and downstream markets would leave an insufficient margin for any efficient competitor to cover their own specific costs for providing the bulk SMS service to customers, therefore preventing or restricting their access to the downstream market. The opening of the investigation follows a complaint filed with the Authority by a smaller competitor operating in the downstream bulk SMS market. The proceeding is scheduled to close on 30 November 2017.