The parties have just two months to allay the competition authority’s initial, yet significant, concerns
The proposed deal involves the two largest operators in the wholesale and retail mobile markets
On 11 May 2026, the Italian competition authority – Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) – announced via a bulletin that it had opened an investigation into a radio access network (RAN) sharing agreement between TIM and Swisscom-owned Fastweb. In January of this year, the two operators entered into a preliminary arrangement to share infrastructure, including towers, in order to accelerate the rollout of 5G (but notably not standalone 5G) services to less populated areas of the country, targeting municipalities with <35,000 inhabitants. The other two mobile operators in Italy, Iliad and Wind Tre, already have a 5G network sharing agreement in place, albeit under a joint venture model. The AGCM has now outlined a series of concerns with the Fastweb-TIM deal, not least because TIM is the largest operator in the wholesale and retail mobile markets, with Fastweb – strengthened by the recent acquisition of Vodafone – in second place. In the AGCM’s view, the agreement appears capable of limiting static competition, both in terms of the quality of infrastructure and services, and in respect of price.
Pooling spectrum resources may alter the parties’ incentives to bid in upcoming awards
The AGCM’s initial evaluation also outlines that the two operators have the largest individual spectrum holdings, with Fastweb having 31% of the total frequencies assigned and TIM having 29%, and therefore a combined holding of over 60% (580MHz). The competition authority adds that the operators’ joint spectrum holding is most significant between 3.4-3.8GHz, a range that has proved particularly valuable for 5G deployments. The AGCM considers that the three-phase agreement could significantly limit competition aimed at improving the respective infrastructures and the use of the spectrum between the parties considering that, in the affected areas, TIM and Fastweb will effectively be using the same infrastructure and the same frequencies. Further, the deal could alter the incentives to compete in upcoming spectrum auctions, which will likely take place before it expires. Indeed, prolonged sharing of frequencies could, in future tenders:
Lead to the sharing of sensitive information between the parties;
Weaken their incentive to compete aggressively; and
Encourage wait-and-see or implicitly coordinated strategies.
The AGCM is particularly concerned by the potential impacts on investment, competition and consumers
The AGCM additional concerns relate to:
The proposed deal including sharing of most components of the mobile radio access network (RAN), both active and passive, via a multi-operator core network (MOCN) mobile, which “requires a more careful assessment than other forms of network sharing”;
The likely reduction in the parties' decision-making independence, with joint determination of most of their production costs limiting their ability and incentives to compete with each other, including in terms of wholesale and retail prices;
From a dynamic perspective, the scope for the agreement to reduce the incentives for each party to invest individually in its own network, even in the medium- to long-term, in order to improve its performance and implement next-generation technologies, with repercussions in terms of delays in innovation to the ultimate detriment of end users; and
The need, again, for a careful assessment of the possible existence and nature of efficiencies and the benefits they would deliver for consumers, the indispensability of the network share to achieve said efficiencies and the preservation of competition in the market.
It may take almost a year before a decision to approve or prohibit the agreement is reached
Taking into account the type, duration and scope of sharing agreement, the parties involved and the characteristics of the relevant markets, the AGCM stated that the deal is prima facie likely to raise competition concerns, potentially influencing various factors that affect quality of service, including the number, location and installed capacity of sites. For example, the agreement could limit the parties’ ability and incentive to differentiate their respective offerings, such as by providing wholesale and/or retail customers with greater capacity or broader and more efficient network coverage. TIM and Fastweb now have 60 days to reply to the AGCM’s concerns, with the authority giving itself until 30 April 2027 to determine whether or not the agreement breaches national competition law.
