In Italy, Political Fallout Over Plans for Telecom
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MILAN, Sept. 26 Â It started with the announcement of a clear-cut plan to split up ItalyÂs largest phone company, Telecom Italia, into separate mobile and fixed-line units.
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Riven by deep policy divisions and  personal rivalries, Italy's centre left is in tatters after the  collapse of Romano Prodi's government and faces a likely  drubbing if a snap election is called.
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Prime Minister Romano Prodi bowed to opposition pressure on Sunday and agreed to have his government face parliamentary questioning over a clash with Telecom Italia that forced the chairman to resign.
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Domani dalle 12 alle 14, primo sciopero europeo dei cellulari, per protesta contro il caro tariffe, il caro Sms, la poca trasparenza nel settore della telefonia e il sospetto di accordi di cartello tra le principali compagnie telefoniche.
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As economic woes mount, Italians want to make it more difficult for members of small coalitions to topple a government.
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Thwarted so far in his attempts to clamp down on mobile telephone use among deputies, the speaker of the Italian parliament has hit upon a sophisticated way of getting tough, a weekly newspaper reported.
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(InfoWorld) - With the support of German lawmakers, incumbent telecommunications operator Deutsche TelekomÂ is racing into a head-on clash with the European Commission over a decision to keep rival operators off its new high-speed broadband network. The upper house of the German parliament approved a revised telecommunications law on Friday. The law will allow partially state-owned Deutsche Telekom to ban competitors from using its VDSL (Very high bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line) network to sell services. The decision flies in the face of Commission legislation that mandates member states to force telecommunications companies with dominant positions -- in most cases former state-owned monopolies -- into opening their network infrastructure to rival operators on favorable terms. While Deutsche Telekom eventually opened its local-loop infrastructure under pressure from Brussels, the operator has fought attempts to allow competition on its new network. It argues that the VDSL network represents a new market for combined triple-play telephony, high-speed Internet and TV services, and new markets are protected under European Union law; in addition, it needs to protect its â¬3 billion ($3.9 billion) investment in the super high-speed network. German lawmakers have become slightly sympathetic to Deutsche Telekom, which has been bleeding fixed-line customers by the millions and consequentlyÂ forced to lower operating costs, largely through job cuts. Since its privatization, the operator has reduced its workforce from more than 250,000 at the peak to around 180,000 today. Over the years, Deutsche Telekom and the German government have clashed with Brussels on issues including the divestment of the operator's cable TV network and local-loop unbundling. In repeated warnings over the past several months, the Commission has said it will take whatever action is necessary to make Germany observe E.U. law. The issue could land in the European Court of Justice, which is responsible for handling E.U. treaty infringements. Court decisions can take years, however. Rival fixed-line operators, including ArcorÂ & Co., which is owned by the Vodafone Group, have made it clear they don't want the former monopoly telephone operator to be given any advantages to dominate another market as it has with the market for telephone service.
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Italyâs infrastructure minister indicated Monday that he would not block Spanish acquisition of a large stake in Telecom Italia.
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Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica has said that it was in talks to acquire a minority share in Telecom Italia, but the deal faces political resistance in Rome.
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Vodafone non adotterÃ  in Italia la stessa politica commerciale che ha fatto negli ultimi mesi la fortuna di 3, ovvero quella di vendere i telefoni cellulari fortemente scontati, al fine di attrarre un maggior numero di clienti.
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European business leaders in Japan lambasted on Wednesday a plan by the nation's ruling party to ban prepaid cell phones as a move that would raise questions about discrimination against a foreign-owned carrier.
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was set to meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder here Wednesday with little prospect of agreeing to settle sharp differences over Berlin's bid for a permanent seat on ...
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday he would demand early general elections if he failed to clinch a deal with his fractious coalition partners to cut income taxes at the start of next year.
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Employees of Telecom Italia staged a strike and protest to oppose the company's plan to hive off its mobile phone unit.
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ROME (Italy): Italy faced a standstill as millions of workers took part in a general strike against the economic policies of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
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Italians went to the polls Sunday in a referendum on changing the constitution trumpeted by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, but critics warn its proposals could endanger national unity.
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Italy's politicians united in lamenting the lot of the nation's women on Thursday but some also said women could do more to defend their rights.Comment