2. The communications sector in Italy

Transcription

2. The communications
sector in Italy
2.1. Telecommunications
In a picture of progressive deterioration of the macroeconomic situation,
the trend of contraction of the telecommunications market, on both fixed and
mobile network, already observed for some years, was confirmed in 2011.
In this context, the elements which best qualify the Italian
telecommunications market, show no substantial change in 2011 compared to
the last two years. These elements can be summed up as follows:
i)
the expenditure of families and companies in telecommunications
services continues to fall, with a slight acceleration compared to 2010;
ii)
the reduction in the prices of telecommunications services to both
private and business customers, on both fixed and mobile networks, is
constant;
iii)
the contraction in voice calls on dial-up network continues, with a
reduction of 11.7% in the number of minutes consumed, while voice
traffic from the mobile network has increased by another 10% in the last
year;
iv)
the spread of broadband services on fixed and mobile network has
produced further growth in income deriving from data services;
v)
there is still growth, but with indications of the saturation of the
relative market, in the virtual mobile telephony compartment;
vi)
with regard to the competitive situation, the erosion of Telecom
Italia's total market share continues;
vii) in last autumn, an auction was held for the assigning of the usage
rights of the frequencies in the 800, 1,800, 2,000 and 2,600 MHz bands,
which led to a total commitment of the mobile operators for € 3.9
billion;
viii) on the other hand, the reduction in investments in infrastructures
is confirmed;9
ix)
The gross profit of the sector is substantially stable, also thanks to
the continuous restructuring and cost containment actions carried out by
the telecommunications companies.
These trends are constantly monitored by the Authorities which, since
last October, provides another tool for knowledge of the sector by the
publication, on its own website, of the “Quarterly telecommunications
observatory”, with the aim of giving the stakeholders a succinct view of the
economic situation of the telecommunications markets. The Observatory traces
the trend of the main indicators (subscriptions, revenues, market shares, etc.)
which feature the fixed and mobile networks, including the broadband services,
on the basis of the data supplied directly by the telecommunications companies,
in order to contribute to greater understanding of the market and competitive
dynamics in progress in the Italian telecommunications sector. The data
processed in the Observatory, for that matter, contribute to the representation
9
The data presented below do not take into account the resources engaged by mobile
operators for the purchase of the frequencies in the 800, 1,800, 2,000 and 2,600 MHz
band at the auction held last September.
65
Annual report on the activity carried out and on the work programmes
2012
of the evolution of the sector recorded over the last twelve months, presented
below.
The telecommunications sector in the macroeconomic context
The trend of the Italian economy in 2011 has been stagnant, in real
terms, as regards both the GDP (+0.5%) and family consumptions (+0.4%),
corresponding to a slight increase in the main macroeconomic indices, expressed
at current values. Compared to what is recorded for 2010, while the growth
trend for family consumptions is on the whole stable, the variation rates, on the
contrary, tend to decrease for the GDP and above all for investments (Table
2.1).10
Table 2.1. The Italian economy in 2010-2011
€ billion, current
Change %
values
2010
2011
2010
2011
Gross Domestic Product
1,553
1,580
2.2
1.7
Family expenditure
935
963
2.7
2.9
Investments (*)
148
150
10.7
1.4
(*) - Net of transport means and constructions
Source: Processed by the Authority on Istat data
In this situation, with regard to the telecommunications trend in Italy,
the decreases already observed in the preceding two years have been confirmed
in 2011, and consequently a slight fall in the weight of the sector compared to
the main macroeconomic values has been recorded (Table 2.2).
Table 2.2. Incidence of telecommunications on the economy (2010-2011, in %)
2010
2011
Revenues (All TLC services /GDP)
2.71
2.57
Investments(TLC/Total investments)
4.16
3.98
Family expenditure (TLC/Total expenditure)
2.31
2.21
Source: processed by the Authority on company and Istat data
Also in 2011, the structural trend of the reduction in service and
terminal prices has been confirmed, in general11 and in fixed and mobile
telecommunications in particular (-0.9%), resulting in further expansion of the
gap in respect of the general trend of goods and service prices (Figure 2.1).
10
Source: Istat, “Conti economici trimestrali” (Quarterly economic accounts), ed. 12 March
2012, database available at http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/56329. The percentage
variations relative to the year 2010 indicated in the table have been calculated in the same
terms as the new historic series published by the Istat (the Italian National Statistics
Institute), which explains relative to the year 2010 - the discrepancies compared to the
corresponding values published in table 2.2 of the last Report to Parliament.
11
The data refer to the sub-classes of the "Code 08" services (communications) included
under consumer prices defined by Istat for 2011, i.e. by postal services (6% of the total),
by fixed and mobile network terminals (18%) and by fixed and mobile telephony services
(76%).
66
Figure 2.1. Communications and consumer prices: comparison of dynamics
(2005=100)
120
118
110
113
100
93
90
84
80
Comunicazioni
Servizi postali
Apparecchi telefonici
Servizi telefonici
70
Prezzi al consumo
60
55
50
40
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Source: processed by the Authorities on Istat data
As illustrated in the 2011 Annual Report, apart from the influence in
families, the effects of the reduction in telecommunications services prices on
fixed and mobile networks also reflect on the trend of the specific index of
production prices, where between the first quarter of 2006 and the fourth
quarter of 2011 there is an average reduction of 25%, with a fall for fixed
network services of more than 17% and for mobile network services of around
44% (Figure 2.2).12
12
Source: Istat, “Gli indici dei prezzi alla produzione dei servizi postali e di
telecomunicazione” (Indices of production prices of postal and telecommunications
services), 29 March 2012. The disclosure “…gives the information used for calculating the
relative index of the output prices, which measures the evolution of prices of business
services sold by operators which supply telecommunications services to companies of
other services and to the Public Administration”.
67
2012
Figure 2.2. Index of production prices of telecommunications services (2006
average=100)
110,0
100,0
90,0
83,0
80,0
Media F+M
74,9
Rete Fissa
70,0
Rete Mobile
60,0
56,6
1Q06
2Q06
3Q06
4Q06
1Q07
2Q07
3Q07
4Q07
1Q08
2Q08
3Q08
4Q08
1Q09
2Q09
3Q09
4Q09
1Q10
2Q10
3Q10
4Q10
1Q11
2Q11
3Q11
4Q11
50,0
The technological evolution and the progressive deregulation of the
market have guaranteed over time a continuous and constant fall in prices in the
telecommunications compartment, a compartment, for that matter, less
influenced than others by the economic trend of external factors such as, for
example, energy products. The telecommunications sector is therefore
confirmed as the only sector, of the main regulated services markets, that has
registered a reduction in prices compared to 2005 (Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3. Dynamics of main public tariffs (2005=100)
150
145
142
140
135
Servizi telefonici
130
125
121
120
113
110
Fornitura acqua
Raccolta rifiuti
Energia elettrica
Gas
Trasporti ferroviari
Canone TV
100
93
90
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
68
Positive indications also come from the comparison both with Europe as
a whole and with the main EU member states (Figure 2.4).13 Between 2005 and
2011, the fall registered in Italy (-7.2%) is greater than the European average
(-5.6%), and it is substantially in line with that registered in France. Among the
countries considered, Germany (-11.4%) has obtained better results, while in
Spain and above all in the United Kingdom there has been a slight increase in
prices.
Figure 2.4. Telecommunications price dynamics in Europe (2005=100)
104,0
103,9
102,0
100,3
100,0
98,0
Europa (27)
96,0
94,4
Germania
94,0
Francia
92,4
90,0
Italia
88,0
Regno Unito
2011
2010
2009
2008
88,6
2007
2006
92,8
92,0
2005
Spagna
Source: Eurostat
Sector dynamics
In 2011 the contraction of gross revenues14 of telecommunications
operators continued (-3.7% compared to -3.4% in 2010), with the fixed network
showing a greater contraction than that recorded for the mobile network (Table
2.3).15
13
The data contained in the Figure 2.4 have been taken from the Eurostat site at
http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/setupModifyTableLayout.do and refer to the
services category COICOP-CPO083 (“Telephone and telefax services”). The data relative to
the United Kingdom refer to the entire “Communications” compartment (COICOP-CP08).
14
Gross revenues are the sum of the final expenditure of private and business clientèle
and the revenues from intermediate services supplied to other operators. The economic
information in the tables and figures in this chapter, unless otherwise indicated, also
include the data relative to the virtual mobile operators.
15
The data relative to fixed and mobile network telecommunications, unless otherwise
indicated, regard the following companies: Brennercom, BT Italia, Cable & Wireless, Colt,
Eutelia, Fastweb, H3G, Infracom Italia, Teletu, OkCom, Orange Business Italy, Retelit,
Telecom Italia, Tiscali, Verizon Italia, Vodafone NV, Welcome Italia and Wind, as well as AMobile (Auchan), Carrefour Italia Mobile, Coop Italia, Daily Telecom, ErgMobile, Noverca
and Poste Mobile. For a more complete representation of the market, the revenues of the
smaller companies, for which no detailed information was available, have been estimated
also on the basis of indications emerging from a specific analysis carried out on the
individual financial statements of about 70 companies, relative to the financial year 2010.
With reference to the year 2010, both for the table in question and for the subsequent
tables, the data are not completely standardised and therefore are not directly comparable
with the corresponding figures given in the last Annual Report. This is because the
companies have at times made additions and re-classifications due both to changes and
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2012
Table 2.3. Fixed and mobile telecommunications - Gross revenues (€ billions)
% change
'11/'10
Fixed network
20.23
19.45
-3.9
Mobile network
21.92
21.14
-3.6
Total
42.16
40.59
-3.7
Source: processed and estimated by the Authorities on company data
2010
2011
Analysing the two components of the sector separately, the expenditure
at retail level of the private and business users (Table 2.4) and revenues from
intermediate services supplied to other operators (Table 2.5), in the former
there is a considerably greater reduction in income from the fixed network
compared to that from the mobile network (respectively -3.9% and -1.4%),
while revenues from intermediate services - which have fallen on average by
7.6%, in line with the 2010 figures, but slightly less accentuated the mobile
network shows the greater decrease (-11.6% against -3.6% for the fixed
network).
Table 2.4. Final expenditure of private and business users (€ billions)
% change
'11/'10
Fixed network
15.38
14.78
-3.9
Mobile network
17.17
16.94
-1.4
Total
32.56
31.72
-2.6
2010
2011
The reasons for the two different trends are mainly due to what is
illustrated for the last year.
In particular, for the fixed network there is a fall in revenues from
origination, termination and transit services, subsequent to the effects of the
regulations introduced by resolutions nos. 179/10/CONS, 180/10/CONS and
117/11/CIR, and from the lower volumes of traffic minutes. At the same time,
certain types of wholesale revenues linked to fees and contributions from access
services (such as ULL, virtual ULL, shared access, WLR, bitstream and naked
DSL) increase both by effect of the increase in the number of wholesale lines
purchased by the companies in competition with Telecom Italia and in virtue of
the increases envisaged not only pursuant to resolution no. 14/09/CIR, but also
pursuant to resolutions 158/11/CIR (approval of bitstream offer), 89/11/CIR and
148/11/CIR (ULL offer) and 88/11/CIR (WLR services).16
additions in the calculation methodologies adopted and, in some cases, changes in the
range of the company's economic activity. This has therefore led to adjustments in terms
of economic amounts, in some cases not of a marginal entity. Furthermore, in the
following tables, in the case of data expressed in values, merely for reasons of rounding up
or down, the sum of the decimal points relative to the single items might not be the same
as that of the total result.
16
In 2011 the consistency of the Full Unbundling, Virtual Unbundling, Shared Access, DSL
Naked and Wholesale Line Rental accesses grew by about 270,000 lines compared to 31
December 2010.
70
In spite of the traffic volumes, wholesale revenues from the mobile
network decrease, in particular, by effect of the unit price reduction for the
supply of vocal call termination services on mobile networks imposed as from 1
July 2011 (see art. 12 of resolution no. 667/08/CONS), which decreases, on an
annual basis, are more than 20%.17
Table 2.5. Revenues from intermediate services (€ billions)
2010
Fixed network
Mobile network
Total
Source: processed and estimated
4.85
4.75
9.60
by the
% change
'11/'10
4.67
-3.6
4.20
-11.6
8.87
-7.6
Authorities on company data
2011
The final expense for each category of customer shows differentiated
results according to both the market of reference (private/business clientèle)
and the type of infrastructure considered (fixed/mobile network) (Table 2.6).
However, all the segments considered feature a contraction in revenues.
For both fixed and the mobile networks, the decrease registered by the
business component is greater than that for private users, where the limited
reduction registered in the expenditure destined for mobile services (-0.9%)
appears to be linked above all, as will be illustrated in more detail below, to the
growth in the income from mobile data services.
Table 2.6. Final expenditure for each customer category (€ billions)
2010
Fixed network
- Private
- Business
Mobile network
- Private
- Business
Fixed and mobile network
- Private
- Business
2011
15.38
14.78
7.84
7.68
7.54
7.10
17.17
16.94
13.74
13.62
3.43
3.31
32.56
31.72
21.58
21.30
10.97
10.41
by the Authorities on
% change
'11/'10
-3.9
-2.0
-5.9
-1.4
-0.9
-3.4
-2.6
-1.3
-5.1
company data
In 2011 the private sector, representing approximately 52% of revenues
on fixed network and over 80% on mobile network, is confirmed as the main
component of end consumers, showing slight growth from 66.3% in 2010 to
67.2% in 2011.
In Figure 2.5 the final expenditure is indicated - for
telecommunications services - divided according to type of service/clientèle.
all
17
Value estimated by the weighting of the specific percentage reductions envisaged for the
single mobile operators for the respective market shares in terminated traffic minutes in
2011 on their own wholesale network for the termination services due to calls from other
mobile networks.
71
2012
Figure 2.5. Final expenditure according to type of network and type of clientèle
(2011, in %)
Rete fissa residenziale;
24,2
Rete mobile affari;
10,2
Rete mobile residenziale;
43,0
Rete fissa affari;
22,8
Investments in fixed assets (Table 2.7) have undergone a decrease of
around 3%, with a slightly greater decrease for the fixed network, with a nonmarginal decrease in investments on the part of Telecom Italia being partially
compensated by an increase on the part of other operators, in particular Wind
and Fastweb.
Table 2.7. Investments in fixed assets (€ millions)
Fixed network
- of which OLO
% OLO
Mobile network*
Total
% fixed network
% mobile network
2010
2011
3,650
1,392
38.1
2,500
6,150
59.3
40.7
3,507
1,472
42.0
2,459
5,966
58.8
41.2
% change
'11/'10
-3.9
5.7
-1.6
-3.0
* The data do not include the resources engaged by the mobile operators for the purchase
of the frequencies in the 800, 1,800, 2,000 and 2,600 MHz bands.
A less intense decrease can be observed in the mobile network (-1.6%)
compared to that of the fixed network. This result, for that matter the same as
already noted last year, appears to be connected to the need to adapt the
network infrastructures to the growing transmission needs linked to the growing
data traffic.
In this regard, in 2011 the procedures were carried out for the
assignment of the so-called digital dividend which called for a considerable
financial effort for the companies of the sector: in fact, last September an
auction was held for usage rights - with availability for the companies from 1
January 2013 - of the 800, 1,800, 2,000 and 2,600 MHz frequencies, which
produced a total income for the State, net of the connected charges, of € 3,945
million (see Table 2.8).
72
Table 2.8. Assignment of usage rights for the 800, 1,800, 2,000 and 2,600 MHz
frequencies
Amount
(€ mln)
800_s
Wind
481.7
800_g
Vodafone
992.4
Telecom Italia
992.2
Wind
496.0
1800_g
Vodafone
159.1
Telecom Italia
159.0
H3G
158.9
2600_b
H3G
37.2
2600_c
H3G
36.8
2600_g
Telecom Italia
109.1
Vodafone
108.2
Wind
108.4
H3G
72.4
2600_s
Wind
33.8
Total
3,945.3
- Telecom Italia
1,260.3
- Vodafone
1,259.7
- Wind
1,119.9
- H3G
305.4
Source: Ministry of Economic Development
Band
Operator
The profitability of the companies, in 2010, showed marginal
reinforcement, with an average gross operating margin equal to 40.7% of
revenues (40.5% in 2009), while in 2011 some estimates relative to the main
participants in the market give indications of further slight growth.18 The
improvement in companies' margins, in a context of the reduction of unit
revenues, has been possible, among other things, thanks to an intense
reorganisation process that mainly concerned direct employment, which is
continually decreasing (-5.8% in 2010).
Considering the positioning of the main operators of the retail sector of
the telecommunication services, Telecom Italia loses little more than 1%, which
is equally distributed in the earnings observed for Vodafone and Wind (+0.7%
each), while marginal decreases are registered for Fastweb, H3G and BT Italia.
The growth in the shares of the smaller companies (+0.4%) is above all
due to the increase in revenues of the virtual mobile operators, while the weight
of the smaller fixed network operators remains substantially constant at around
3.5%. (Table 2.9).
18
The 2010 profit and employment data refer to the analysis of the income statement of
the individual 2010 financial statement of about 70 companies which offer, with reference
to the totality (or less) of revenues, telecommunications services (fixed network, mobile
network, MVNO, WiMAX). The estimates for 2011 are calculated on the basis of
information relative to BT Italia, Eutelia, Fastweb, H3G, Tiscali, Telecom Italia, Teletu,
Vodafone and Wind.
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2012
Table 2.9. Final expenditure of fixed and mobile network users divided
according to operator (%)
2010
2011
Telecom Italia
48.6
47.4
Vodafone group
21.3
22.0
Wind
13.8
14.4
Fastweb
5.1
4.9
H3G
4.2
4.1
BT Italia
2.7
2.7
Others
4.2
4.5
Total
100.0
100.0
As already indicated in the last Reports to Parliament, because of the
increasingly greater complexity which features the pricing of the offers of
telecommunications services on fixed and mobile networks, it is very difficult to
estimate in the same terms the trend of unit revenues which, although
indirectly, represent the prices practised on the retail markets.
Given this, Table 2.10, with exclusive reference to the vocal telephony
services, gives an estimate on the trend, for fixed and mobile telephony, of the
percentage change in unit revenues observed in the private and business
segments.
In particular, in 2011, there is an average reduction of 8.3%, resulting
from two opposite trends. For the fixed network there is a growth of 2.7%,
which results from a reduction in vocal traffic (-10.1%) of a greater intensity
than the contraction in corresponding revenues (-7.7%), in part explained by
the tariff remodulation adopted by Telecom Italia from 1 July 2011.
The consistent fall in unit revenues in the mobile network (-15.1%)
seems to be evidence of the strong focus on bundled voice-data offers, and on
solutions aimed at reinforcement, with special offers, of the retention of its own
customer base. In this regard, it is observed that revenues from “on-net” vocal
calls decrease in 2011 by 7.3%, while the corresponding traffic increases by
9.5%.
Table 2.10. Trend of unit revenues in telephony services (2011/2010, %
change)
Private
Business Private+Business
Fixed network19
1.4
4.6
2.7
Mobile network20
-16.4
-9.4
-15.0
F+M average
-10.5
-1.7
-8.2
19
The values are constructed with reference to the data of only the companies for which
detailed information is available and they regard vocal telephony on dial-up network
regarding - for revenues and traffic - fixed network local, national and international routes
and to mobile networks. The revenues do not include broadband services which, often
offered in voice+data bundle mode, contribute in a non-marginal manner to the reduction
of revenues and vocal telephony service volumes only on the dial-up network. Public
telephony is also excluded.
20
Revenues and minutes of vocal traffic have been considered, relative to calls to mobile
networks (off-net and on-net), national fixed networks and international networks.
74
With reference to data services21, considering the difficulty of gathering
standardised information because of the different registration systems adopted
by the diverse operators, as it is known, it is hardly possible to have availability
– with sufficient reliability – of specific indicators for the same. Nevertheless,
conservative estimates imply that the average unit revenues of the companies,
per GB of data traffic uploaded and downloaded, have decreased in 2011 by
about 30%, reaching approximately € 2.1 GB per month.22
Fixed network
In 2011, the trends already registered in previous years were
reconfirmed, regarding the structural fall in the total income of companies
offering telecommunication services at fixed positions, which decreased by 3.9%
(Table 2.11).
The trend of the two main components, i.e. on-line dial-up services and
broadband services, show a less intense decrease for the former (-6.5%) than
that of the previous year (-8.4%). At the same time, there is a tendency
towards slowing down - also because the growth of the customer base has
slowed down - in the growth rate of income from broadband services, which
nevertheless has a positive value, albeit to a lesser extent than the preceding
year (+3.0% vs. +6.8 in 2010).
Table 2.11. Fixed network – User expenditure according to type of services (€
billions)
% change
'11/'10
Final services on:
11.98
11.61
-3.1
- dial-up network 23
7.74
7.23
-6.5
- broadband networks 24
4.25
4.38
3.0
Other data services 25
0.57
0.52
-9.7
Other revenues 26
2.83
2.65
-6.2
Total
15.38
14.78
-3.9
2010
2011
With reference to broadband services according to type of contract
(Table 2.12), in 2011 the progressive spread of flat offers continued, which now
21
Revenues from data services refers to the income from the internet access and
navigation, SMS, MMS and other video traffic transmitted from user terminals and mobile
TV services.
22
The calculation includes income from SMS, MMS, internet access and navigation, mobile
TV services, and other contents generated by user terminals. The calculation excludes
MVNO.
23
Income from access services, telephony services (local, national, international, fixedmobile), internet dial up services, from services with non-geographic code and from public
telephones is included.
24
Fixed fees and fees for services charged on consumption are included
25
Data transmission dial-up services and circuits rented direct to end customers (OLO) are
included.
26
Revenues from the sale/rental of appliances, terminals and accessories are included as
well as all other types of revenue not expressly considered previously.
75
2012
represent more than 72% of contracts stipulated for the purchase of broadband
services, while offers specifically on consumption are just over 11%.27
Table 2.12. Type of broadband services contract (%)
2010
2011
Flat
71.1
72.3
Semiflat
17.0
16.5
Consumption
11.9
11.2
Total
100.0
100.0
The contraction of traffic on dial-up network continues, with a reduction
of 11.7% in the number of minutes consumed: the fall in consumption regards
all routes (Table 2.13), showing a general downturn in the demand for vocal
communication services on fixed network. The reduction of "internet dial-up"
calls and to international codes seems to be mainly due to the effect of
substitution by broadband services, while the decrease in calls to mobile
networks, on the contrary, reflects the effect of substitution by mobile
communication solutions.
Table 2.13. Traffic on dial-up fixed network according to route (billions of
minutes)
% change
'11/'10
Local
44.35
40.63
-8.4
Internet dial-up
4.05
2.17
-46.5
National
31.09
27.71
-10.9
International
3.45
2.59
-25.1
Mobile networks
12.08
10.85
-10.2
Public telephony
0.13
0.10
-22.8
Total
95.16
84.05
-11.7
2010
2011
Growth in broadband accesses continues (Figure 2.6 and Figure 2.7)
which at the end of 2011 reached 13.4 million (13.5 million in March 2012), with
net growth in the year of around 370,000 accesses, confirming a progressive
deceleration in broadband accesses.
27
The range of the activities considered within the sphere of the analysis by type of
contract include, for the OLO, Full ULL accesses, xDSL Bitstream, Shared Access,
Wholesale Line Rental, FTTH and rented lines. The shifts in respect of the results of the
previous year are due to different classification methods adopted by some companies.
76
Figure 2.6. Broadband accesses on fixed network (Dec. 2009 - Mar. 2012)
14,0
3,0
2,6
13,5
13,3
2,5
13,0
2,1
13,3
13,4
13,5
2,5
13,1
12,9
2,0
12,7
12,3
12,5
13,3
1,6
1,5
12,1
1,5
1,5
12,0
1,0
11,5
0,5
0,7
0,5
0,4
0,1
11,0
0,0
dic 09 mar 10 giu 10 set 10 dic 10 mar 11 giu 11 set 11 dic 11 mar 12
Linee B B - mln
(scala sx)
Var. %
(scala dx)
Figure 2.7. Net increases in broadband accesses (2005-2011, in millions)
2,5
2,08
2
1,71
1,65
1,5
1,15
1,01
0,98
1
0,37
0,5
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
It is estimated that data traffic transmitted on the telecommunication
networks from fixed positions has almost reached 3,200 petabytes in 2011, with
an increase in the same terms of just under 15% compared to the levels
reached in 2010. In the same period, as already seen, the number of users of
77
2012
broadband access to the networks increased. In fact, the growth in traffic "per
head" can be estimated at about 9% per broadband subscriber.28 The factors
which sustain this growing demand for capacity include the continuous increase
in internet users but, above all, the growing use of increasingly more
sophisticated services and applications, as well as the evolution in the ways of
using the network. In this regard, one can consider the exponential increase in
the users of the social networks and the contents distribution platforms, such as
YouTube, recorded in recent years.29
At the same time, the upgrading of the broadband connections supplied
to the end users continues, with the progressive increase in the transmission
speed (Table 2.14). At the end of 2011, compared to 2010, the rate of accesses
with capacity greater than 2 Mbit/s has increased overall from 80.8% to 86.5%,
while for OLO alone the corresponding values have increased from just under
90% to approximately 92.4%.
Table 2.14. Broadband accesses according to nominal speed bracket (%)
2010
OLO
>144Kbps ≤2 Mbps
10.3
>2Mbps <10Mbps
80.9
≥ 10 Mbps
8.8
Total
100.0
Source: processed by the Authorities
2011
OLO+TI
OLO
19.2
7.6
72.4
82.0
8.4
10.5
100.0
100.0
on company data
OLO+TI
13.5
78.2
8.2
100.0
With regard to the position in the retail market of the companies which
supply broadband services, the market share of Telecom Italia, expressed in
terms of broadband lines, continues to decrease, albeit remaining above the
50% threshold (Figure 2.8).30
28
With regard to broadband subscribers, annual averages for 2010 and 2011.
In this regard it has been estimated that 60 hours of video are uploaded onto YouTube
every
minute,
i.e.
one
hour
per
second;
source:
http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics, 10.5.2012
30
The data refer to those requested within the sphere of the updating of the European
reporting on broadband; however, the ranges of relative goods and services differ slightly
from those indicated in the following table relative to regional distribution of total direct
accesses to broadband, which considers only the main forms of access, excluding, for
example, permanent virtual cycles, rented lines, etc. At the same time, in the analysis of
connection rates on a territorial basis, the data also include the “Virtual Unbundling”
accesses, which, in turn, are not included in the European reporting. Therefore, the value
for Telecom Italia's market share of broadband accesses on fixed network (53.2% at
December 2011) shown in figure 2.8 differs slightly from the corresponding national
average value (53.0%) indicated in the following table 2.22, since the two aggregates
refer to merchandise ranges that are not completely similar.
29
78
Figure 2.8. Telecom Italia's market share of broadband retail services (Dec.
2009 - Mar. 2012, in %)
60,0
59,4
58,7
57,5
57,7
58,0
57,3
57,3
56,3
56,4
55,0
55,6
56,0
54,9
54,3
52,5
55,1
54,8
54,3
53,7
53,9
53,6
53,1
52,6
50,0
dic 09
mar 10
giu 10
set 10
Linee DSL
dic 10
mar 11
giu 11
set 11
dic 11
mar 12
Linee BB rete fissa
Source: processed by the Authorities on company data
At the end of March 2012, Telecom Italia's main competitors (Vodafone,
Wind and Fastweb) held about 41% of the broadband retail services market,
which is approximately one percent more than at March 2011. The other
operators have a much lower weight, managing 6.3% of the broadband lines
activated by Italian end users (Figure 2.9).
Figure 2.9. Market shares of broadband retail services (Mar. 2012, in %)
Vodafone; 12,3
Altri; 2,6
Tiscali; 3,7
Fastweb; 12,3
Telecom Italia;
52,6
Wind; 16,5
Source: processed by the Authorities on company data
79
2012
As is known, broadband has spread in Italy more slowly than in the
other European countries, partly due to infrastructural factors, such as, for
example, the absence of a cable network. At the end of 2011 broadband
penetration on fixed network had reached hardly more than 22% of Italians,
compared with a European average of almost 28%; this figure is positively
influenced by the values of France, Germany and the United Kingdom
(respectively 35.7%, 33.4% and 31.7%) (Table 2.15).
Table 2.15. Broadband use in Europe (31 December 2011)
Accesses
(mln)
27.3
11.4
23.2
13.4
% pop
33.4
24.7
35.7
22.2
31
Germany
Spain
France
Italy
United
Kingdom
19.8
31.7
EU27
139.5
27.8
Source: processed by the Authority on CoCom and Eurostat data
The specific differences of an economic and social nature and in the
physical geography of the single countries certainly influence the determining
factor at the basis of both the broadband services offer and demand. In this
sense, it seems opportune to point out some particular features that
characterise the demographic structure of the main European countries, to the
extent that it becomes one of the variables which contribute to determining the
size of the potential broadband services markets (Table 2.16).
Table 2.16. Population according to age bracket (in millions at 1 January 2011)
Age
Age
%
5-19
> 65
pop.
Millions
years
years
Germany
11.7
14.31
16.82
Spain
6.67
14.45
7.86
France
11.97 18.40
10.84
Italy
8.59
14.17
12.29
United Kingdom
10.86 17.39
10.36
Source: based on Eurostat data
%
pop.
20.6
17.0
16.7
20.3
16.6
As regards the 5-19 years age bracket – the most receptive in terms of
capacity to adopt digital services – Italy has a deficit, in absolute terms,
compared to France and the United Kingdom (countries with a population
comparable to Italy), equal to 3.3 million individuals in respect of France and 2.3
million in respect of the United Kingdom. Considering the weight of the specific
age bracket in question, in respect of the total population, the value for Italy is
the lowest (14.17%), although in line with the values of Germany and France,
but about 3-4 percent lower than France and the United Kingdom.
31
At 1 January 2011 - Extracted values - including the segment proposed in Table 2.15 on
4.5.2011 at: http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu
80
These indications seem to take on particular significance if one considers
that in 2011 just under 85% of Italian families with a minor had a personal
computer, and almost 80% of these used the internet32; these values are
probably not far from the corresponding data of the advanced European
countries.
In the opposite way, a high number of individuals in the older age
brackets seems to represent a negative factor for the widespread use of
broadband services, and Italy has a larger elderly population than its European
partners. In fact, considering the population in the over-65 year age bracket,
Italy has 1.5 million more individuals than France and almost 2 million more
than the United Kingdom. Compared to Spain, a country with a different
demographic balance, 17% of the total Iberian population are in the said age
group, whereas in Italy it represent 20% of the total.
It is certainly not simple to also quantitatively assess the educational
level, a further factor which influences the "potential market" of broadband
services. Also in this case, Italy comes out as "penalised" by comparison with
the main European countries. In fact, considering the population of between 25
and 64 years of age who have completed only the first level of secondary
education, only Spain, of all the countries considered, has a higher percentage
of the population with a low level of education (Table 2.17).
Table 2.17. Population with a low level of education in the 25-64 year age
bracket (2010, in %)
Country
Germany
Finland
Sweden
United
Kingdom
%
14.2
17.0
18.4
Country
France
Greece
Italy
23.9
Spain
Source: Eurostat33
%
29.2
37.5
44.8
47.4
The fall in the number of accesses to the fixed network in copper also
continued last year. The total number of active lines in Italy, at the end of 2011,
is just over 22 million (Table 2.18).34 Accesses to the telephony networks
controlled by the companies that are competitors of Telecom Italia, at the end of
2011, exceeded 7.3 million, with growth just under 300,000 accesses over the
year. This caused a fall in Telecom Italia's market share of around one percent,
which was at 67% in December 2011.
32
Source: Istat, “Le tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione nelle imprese –
Anno 2011” (Information and communication technologies in companies, 2011), ed.
13.12.2011
33
The Eurostat indicator “Persons with low educational attainment, by age group - %” is
defined as the percentage of persons between 25 and 64 years of age with an ISCED
(International Standard Classification of Education) level of 2 or less. The ISCED levels
from 0 to 2 correspond to pre-primary, primary and junior high school levels of education.
Data
extracted
on
4
May
2012
at
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/table.do?tab=table&init=1&language=en&pcode=ts
dsc430&plugin=1
34
For a more precise picture of the market in terms of subjects (families and companies)
which have subscribed to a specific contract, unlike past years, WLR accesses have also
been included.
81
2012
Table 2.18. Accesses to the fixed network (thousands)
Dec-09
Telecom Italia accesses
16,116
OLO accesses
6,412
- Full unbundling
4,273
- Virtual ULL
102
- Fibre
253
- DSL Naked
939
- WLR
845
Total accesses
22,528
Telecom Italia share (%)
71.5
Source: Processed by the Authority on
Dec-10
Dec-11
15,380
14,681
7,051
7,338
4,703
4,953
79
63
279
278
1,036
1,087
954
957
22,431
22,019
68.6
66.7
company data
The number of accesses to the fixed network, as for broadband services,
is rather differentiated at regional level.
Compared to an average national value of around 67%35 families with a
connection to the fixed network, the situation differs in a non-marginal manner,
with a range varying from 81.2% in Lazio and 53.7% in Calabria (Table 2.19).
Table 2.19. Accesses to the fixed network (December 2011, % of families)
Piedmont
66.3
Molise
Aosta Valley
59.1
Campania
Lombardy
71.0
Puglia
Trentino-Alto Adige
61.3
Basilicata
Veneto
60.5
Calabria
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
67.5
Sicily
Liguria
70.9
Sardinia
Emilia-Romagna
67.3
ITALY
Tuscany
69.8
Main towns/cities
Umbria
62.8
North West
Marche
66.5
North East
Lazio
81.2
Centre
Abruzzo
61.7
South and Islands
Source: processed and estimated by the Authority on company
58.5
70.9
62.8
55.8
53.7
62.8
59.3
67.4
82.2
69.6
64.1
74.2
63.4
and Istat data
With regard to the competitive picture of direct access to the fixed
network, on a national basis Telecom Italia – as already observed – has
registered approximately 67%, but with a marked differentiation at geographic
level (Table 2.20).36
35
The results shown in the table cannot be compared with those in table 2.16 of the
previous Report. With reference to the number of accesses, slight adjustments and
reclassifications have been made to ensure standardisation with other quantitative data
collected from the companies and/or transmitted formally for other purposes (e.g.
European reporting on broadband, the EU digital agenda scoreboard).
36
The slight discrepancy in Telecom Italia's market share, shown in table 2.19 above, is
due to the slightly irregular merchandise range considered. The table takes into account a)
physical accesses of Telecom Italia, b) full and virtual ULL accesses, c) fibre, d) DSL naked
82
As already illustrated in the previous Reports, the absence of important
towns/cities and a prevalently mountainous territory are at the basis, in the
presence of investments with consequently low returns for the OLO, of high
market shares for Telecom Italia, as in the case of the Aosta Valley (76.7%),
Trentino Alto Adige (80.4%), Calabria (79.8%) and Basilicata (80.8%), regions
which have a lower penetration rate for the fixed network than the national
average.
In parallel, in regions with large towns/cities, Telecom Italia's market
share has fallen, as in the case of Campania (59.4%) and Lazio (56.9%), for
example. In fact, as already observed in the 2011 Annual Report, the results of
the operators in competition with Telecom Italia are linked to strategic policies
linked to the reinforcement of their own positions in the large cities.
In the case of Fastweb, the average value of 7.2% at national level is
exceeded in Lombardy (10%), Liguria and Lazio, while Wind (12.6% at national
level) reaches market shares near or more than 20% in Puglia, Campania and
Lazio. There is less variability in Vodafone's market shares which, compared to a
national average of 9.3%, has obtained results of between 11.2% in Veneto and
7.9% in Umbria.
Table 2.20. Total accesses to the fixed network – market shares at 31
December 2011 (%)
Piedmont
Aosta Valley
Lombardy
Trentino-Alto
Adige
Veneto
Friuli-Venezia
Giulia
Liguria
Emilia-Romagna
Tuscany
Umbria
Marche
Lazio
Abruzzo
Molise
Campania
Puglia
Basilicata
Calabria
Sicily
Sardinia
ITALY
North West
Teleco
m
Italia
66.6
76.7
63.3
Fastw
eb
Win
d
7.8
5.4
10.7
13.0
5.7
11.8
BT
Ital
ia
0.6
0.2
0.7
1.6
1.0
2.0
Vodafo
ne
Italia
9.1
10.1
9.9
80.4
79.1
2.9
4.2
5.0
3.0
0.4
0.6
0.7
1.1
75.5
60.8
70.0
73.1
77.4
76.9
56.9
71.8
79.1
59.4
63.8
80.8
79.8
64.7
61.2
66.9
64.0
3.9
11.5
7.6
5.2
4.9
4.5
10.6
6.7
2.8
7.1
5.9
3.7
2.0
4.8
2.0
7.2
10.0
9.6
13.7
10.1
9.6
7.8
7.8
18.6
9.5
7.2
22.0
17.8
5.2
7.6
17.1
7.5
12.6
12.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.6
0.4
0.4
0.5
0.5
0.5
0.3
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.8
1.7
1.4
1.9
0.7
1.2
3.0
1.3
0.4
1.1
0.7
0.9
1.5
1.7
19.4
2.1
1.9
Tisc
ali
Oth
ers
Total
1.4
0.8
1.5
100
100
100
9.9
11.2
0.7
0.8
100
100
8.8
10.1
9.1
8.6
7.9
8.5
8.5
9.2
9.3
8.4
9.9
8.5
8.1
10.0
8.0
9.3
9.7
1.0
1.7
1.2
1.1
0.8
0.8
1.8
1.1
0.7
1.7
1.5
0.6
0.6
1.4
1.6
1.3
1.5
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
accesses and e) WLR accesses, while in table 2.20, in addition to the first three types
considered, the DSL bitstream lines and the “Shared Accesses” are also included.
83
North East
75.1
5.5
6.8
0.6 1.2
Centre
65.7
7.8
13.8 0.5 2.3
South
and
Islands
65.2
5.2
16.0 0.4 2.7
Source: processed and estimated by the Authorities
9.9
8.5
2012
1.0
1.4
100
100
9.1
1.4 100
on company data
The data relative to the main towns and metropolitan areas confirm
what has already been indicated in the 2011 Annual Report:
greater penetration of accesses (more than 82% compared to the
national average of 67.4%);
more accentuated competitive dynamics, pursuant to which Telecom
Italia has a market share of less than 45%, with Wind and Fastweb both around
20% while Vodafone is practically 12%.
At the end of 2011 the level of the gross coverage of broadband services
on copper, measured by the connections registered at exchanges open to the
ADSL service, has reached 97% of the population, with about 650 towns still
without the service.
However, considering the aim of the National Broadband
Plan, which intends to guarantee a broadband service of at least 2 Mbps, and
the real coverage net of technical problems that can prevent the effective
availability of the broadband service (net coverage), the net coverage falls to
89% of the population and there are almost 2,000 towns without the service.
Also taking into account the broadband coverage ensured by the various
wireless technologies on the market (HSDPA, Hiperlan, WiMax), the effective
coverage of the population rises to almost 96%.37
Furthermore, in 2011 the companies have continued to invest not only in
increasing the basic broadband coverage, but also in expanding the second
generation ADSL services which allow for reaching nominal speeds of above 20
Mbps, and in this sense the population which, at the end of 2011, had effective
access to this type of services can be estimated as having increased from 62%
to 64% of the total.
The year 2011 ended with the launching of important Government
initiatives to sustain broadband. With the aim of guaranteeing that the
Community targets for 2020 as regards broadband services are reached38, in the
month of December 2011 the Ministry of Economic Development opened a public
consultation on the strategic Italian Digital Agenda Project. The project describes
the measures for the implementation of the European Digital Agenda, and it is
divided into two macro projects.
1.
A project for the ultra broadband, intended for the more remunerative
areas of the Country, with priority for the industrial areas and the more densely
populated areas, where private operators, however, have no interest in making
independent investments;
2.
A project for the creation of Data Centres, for the benefit of the Public
Administration and companies, to accelerate the dematerialisation process of the
PA and the digitalisation of processes.
37
Source: Between, Broadband Observatory - Ultra Broadband Objective, March 2012.
The most important are the coverage at least 30 Mbps for all citizens, with at least 50%
of families subscribed to the internet with a band of more than 100 Mbps.
38
84
The first step for the implementation of these strategies and to bring
about the creation of the broadband and ultra broadband infrastructures is the
“Cohesion Action Plan” for improving collective public services in the South
(November 2011), defined by the Department for Development and Economic
Cohesion of the Ministry of Economic Development, in order to launch the action
in the regions of South Italy.
In addition to this, in March 2012 the Steering Committee for the Italian
Digital Agenda was established, for the purpose of drawing up and defining
Italian strategy for the pursuit of the targets of the European Digital Agenda.
Some Regions are also continuing with the planning of works for the
ultra broadband. These include the initiatives of the Autonomous Province of
Trento, of Sardinia and of Emilia Romagna, which follow different approaches:
1.
the Autonomous Province of Trento is developing a plan which
envisages, on one hand, the use of the public optic fibre network which the
provincial company Trentino Network is constructing and, on the other, the
preparation of new optic fibre connections to homes. The aim of the plan is to
create an ultra broadband to cover 100% of the population and of the business
enterprises by 2018, by the constitution of a company with both public and
private capital dedicated to covering 60% of provincial users (areas of medium
profitability), while the low profitability areas will be covered directly by the
public company Trentino Network;
2.
the Region of Sardinia aims to create a passive optic fibre infrastructure
over a period of 4-5 years, according to a project-financing model. The project
involves the construction of cable ducts and, at the same time, works for the
creation of a methane pipeline. In this way, the Region intends to make
available to citizens access to the ultra broadband, by including the new optic
fibre access infrastructure in the works for the gas pipeline and successively
making it available to the telecommunications operators;
3.
Emilia Romagna – through the Region's company named Lepida – is
assessing the various action options possible. For this purpose, it intends to
create a “permanent NGN committee”, formed of Region representatives,
operators, local bodies and potential investors, with the task of defining the
most suitable model for accelerating the development of the infrastructure
works of the territory with ultra broadband networks.
The physical nature of the territory and the size of the towns and cities
are non-secondary decisive factors for the diffusion of broadband services, since
they have a considerable effect on the costs of the infrastructures and this,
reflecting on the expected returns, influences investment levels and
consequently also the penetration rate in the Region.
In this regard, Figure 2.10 and Figure 2.11 illustrate, for the macro
regional area, the differentiation in the broadband penetration rates according to
the diverse classes of diverging values (positive and negative) in respect of the
national average.39
39
The work is carried out, on a provincial basis, with reference to the resident population
at 31 December 2010 (60.6 mln). Telecom Italia's DSL retail accesses, ULL accesses,
virtual ULL accesses, shared accesses and bitstream accesses are included. San Marino is
not included. Therefore, broadband penetration at national level at 31 December 2011,
thus calculated, is equal to 23.35%; this value is obviously slightly different form that
indicated in the previous Table 2.15, where the calculation also includes Fastweb's fibre
accesses, for which, however, the provincial distribution figures are not available and
therefore, in this specific case, they are not included.
85
2012
In the first case (greater spread than the national average) there is a
strong prevalence in the Central and Northern provinces40, while no Southern
province has a penetration of more than 20% of the average national value
(Figure 2.10). On the contrary, in provinces with minor broadband access
(Figure 2.11), especially those with a penetration of at least 20% less than the
average, there is a net prevalence in the Southern areas.
Figure 2.10. Division of individuals resident in the provinces with broadband
diffusion above the national average (Dec. 2011)
Source: based on Telecom Italia and Istat data
Figure 2.11. Division of individuals residing in the provinces with broadband
spread below the national average (Dec. 2011)
Key of macro regional areas: SI (South and Islands) = Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria,
Campania, Molise, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily; CE (Central Italy) = Marche, Lazio, Umbria,
Tuscany; NE (North-East) = Friuli V.G., Emilia Romagna, Trentino A.A., Veneto; NW
(North-West) = Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Aosta Valley.
40
The main Central and Northern provinces (Rome, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Bologna) all
have rates above 20% of the national average.
86
Tra -10% e -20%
Fino a - 10%
NE;
36,2
SI; 26,4
CE;
13,8
NE;
16,9
SI;
43,0
CE;
15,9
NO;
23,7
Tra -20% e -30%
NO;
7,5
Inferiore a -30%
NE;
12,7
CE; 9,1
SI; 83,4
NO;
24,1
SI; 87,3
Source: based on Telecom Italia and Istat data
With regard to the spread of broadband accesses41 in the country, a
total of about 44% of families42 have a broadband line, with a certain variation
between the different Italian regions (Table 2.21). For example, values are
above average in Lazio (55.1%), Campania (52.3%) and Lombardy (46.3%),
while Basilicata, Calabria and Molise have values equal to or just above 30%.
Table 2.21. Broadband accesses (December 2011, % of families)
Piedmont
Aosta Valley
Lombardy
Trentino-Alto Adige
Veneto
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Liguria
Emilia-Romagna
Tuscany
Umbria
Marche
Lazio
Abruzzo
39.9
37.6
46.3
38.5
39.7
39.9
43.6
42.0
44.2
38.0
44.3
55.1
39.4
Molise
Campania
Puglia
Basilicata
Calabria
Sicily
Sardinia
ITALY
Main towns/cities
North West
North East
Centre
South and Islands
30.5
52.3
41.6
33.0
34.6
41.0
41.7
44.0
57.3
44.1
40.5
48.9
43.0
As already underlined in the 2011 Annual Report, the quantitative use of
broadband services on the part of companies is not easy to assess, in view of
41
Broadband accesses are Telecom Italia's xDSL accesses and for the OLO, in addition to
the “data unbundling”, “shared access”, “bitstream” and “fibre” consistent with the present
structure of Community reporting on the matter, also the “virtual unbundling” accesses.
42
The number of Italian families at 31.12.2011 has been estimated applying the average
size of the family (approximately 2.4 individuals) according to Istat data at the end of
2010 to the value of the total population (approximately 60.85 million according to the
National Statistic Institute's “Demographic Indicator – estimates for the year 2011”,
January 2012.
87
2012
the particular employment structure of Italian companies because of the very
large number of family businesses in which cases family and business use often
coincide.43 However, broadband accesses on the part of business users is
estimated at representing 49% on a national basis and around 67% in the large
cities, with a less marked differentiation throughout the country in respect of
home use.44
Obviously the spread of broadband is highly differentiated
according to company size. In this regard, it is estimated that over 84% of
companies with at least 10 employees use broadband connection on fixed
network.45
Similarly, total accesses to the fixed network, in Table 2.22 gives, on a
regional basis, a picture of the competitive situation relative to the supply of
broadband services, expressed in terms of lines managed by each operator.
On a national basis, Telecom Italia's market share at the end of 2011 is
on average below 53%, although in Lombardy, Liguria, Lazio, Campania, Puglia
and Sardinia, this operator has shares of less than 50%.
At the same time, the consolidation process – already pointed out in the
last Report – of Telecom Italia's main competitors (Vodafone, Wind and
Fastweb) which together, at the end of 2011, have 40.7% of the market
(against 39.7% at the end of 2010), is confirmed.46 For Fastweb, although its
overall market share is decreasing, the focus on the large cities in particular in
confirmed, where it has market shares of over 30%, and in some cases
considerably above this figure. Wind – which shows average growth of above
1% compared to the previous year – obtains particularly important results in
some regions in the South: in Sicily, Puglia and Campania it has more than 20%
of the market. Vodafone is confirmed as the operator with the most uniform
market share throughout the country, and it shows net growth in the main
towns where, in some cases, it has 20% of the market at the end of 2011.
43
According to an estimate calculated by the CGIA (Association of self employed craftsmen
and small businesses) of Mestre, in 2011 3.36 million companies (out of a total of 5.28
million) had no more than 1 employee (see http://www.cgiamestre.com/2012/02/articolo18-interessa-solo-il-3-delle-imprese-ma-tutela-il-65-dei-dipendenti-italiani/.
44
The data, which refer to 4.845 million local enterprises at the end of 2009, are
contained in the Istat study “Struttura e dimensioni delle unità locali delle imprese”
(Structure and sizes of local business units), 21 October 2011.
45
Istat, “Le tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione nelle imprese, anno 2011”
(Information and communication technologies in companies, year 2011), 13 December
2011.
46
See table 2.20, page 104 of the 2011 Annual Report.
88
Table 2.22. Broadband accesses – market shares (Dec. 2011, %)
Teleco
m
Italia
51.9
62.2
48.7
BT
Fastw
Wind Itali
eb
a
13.7
14.8 1.0
9.3
9.0
0.4
17.7
12.8 1.1
Piedmont
Aosta Valley
Lombardy
Trentino-Alto
Adige
68.1
5.1
8.1
Veneto
60.6
6.9
12.1
Friuli-V.G.
62.9
7.1
12.4
Liguria
44.4
19.5
15.8
Emilia-Romagna 55.5
13.2
12.0
Tuscany
60.8
8.7
12.2
Umbria
63.7
8.6
12.3
Marche
65.8
7.2
11.5
Lazio
45.6
16.5
19.1
Abruzzo
57.7
11.2
13.9
Molise
60.5
5.6
15.7
Campania
48.0
10.1
28.3
Puglia
48.6
9.3
26.0
Basilicata
66.5
6.8
9.5
Calabria
68.0
3.3
12.2
Sicily
53.8
7.6
20.9
Sardinia
42.1
3.0
8.6
ITALY
53.0
11.8
16.2
North West
49.2
16.8
13.6
North East
59.4
9.4
11.8
Centre
53.7
12.6
15.7
South
and
Islands
51.8
8.1
21.6
Source: processed and estimated by
0.6
1.0
0.7
0.8
1.1
1.1
0.7
0.6
0.8
0.8
0.9
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.5
0.8
1.1
0.9
0.9
Vodafo
Tisca
ne
li
Italia
3.0
13.7
1.8
16.2
3.7
13.8
1.4
2.1
1.6
3.3
2.7
3.5
1.3
2.0
5.2
2.3
0.8
1.8
1.3
1.7
2.8
2.9
32.7
3.8
3.5
2.2
4.1
15.6
16.2
13.8
13.9
13.8
12.2
12.3
11.8
10.4
12.7
15.2
9.3
12.4
14.0
12.1
12.4
11.1
12.7
13.8
14.9
11.3
Othe
rs
l
Tota
1.9
1.2
2.1
100
100
100
1.1
1.1
1.4
2.3
1.7
1.5
1.2
1.1
2.3
1.5
1.2
2.0
1.9
0.8
0.9
1.8
2.0
1.7
2.1
1.4
1.9
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
0.6
4.7
11.4
1.8
100
the Authorities on company data
With regard to the total expenditure of families and companies on the
fixed network (Table 2.23), in 2011 Telecom Italia's market share was just over
62%, representing a fall of approximately 1% compared to 2010. Of the OLO,
Wind and above all Vodafone show growth (the latter is more strongly confirmed
as the third fixed network operator), while Fastweb's market share is limited to
10.1%.
With regard to the specific private and business markets, in the former
Wind and Vodafone have increased earnings by about 1%, while a decrease has
been registered for Telecom Italia (-1.3%) and Fastweb (-0.7%). This latter
recovery was partially in the business segment, but the fall of BT Italia
continues.
89
2012
Table 2.23. Final expenditure of users per operator (%)47
User
expenditure
2010
2011
Telecom Italia
63.1
62.1
Wind
8.5
9.0
Fastweb
10.3
10.1
BT Italia
5.7
5.4
Vodafone Italia
5.0
5.9
Tiscali
1.8
1.8
Others
5.7
5.8
Total %
100.0
100.0
Total (€ billions)
15.38 14.78
private
business
2010
2011
2010
2011
64.7
63.4
61.3
60.6
13.3
14.3
3.4
3.3
8.2
7.5
12.5
12.8
0.0
0.0
11.6
11.2
8.8
9.9
1.1
1.5
2.7
2.6
0.8
0.9
2.2
2.1
9.3
9.7
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
7.84
7.68
7.54
7.10
Not considering revenues from the supply of access services, Telecom
Italia's weight in dial-up and broadband services (Table 2.24) has decreased to
below 52% in 2011, with a fall of -0.9% compared to the previous year. At the
same time, the corresponding revenues of the three main OLO have increased
by more than 2 percent; however, while Wind and Vodafone progress in both
market segments (private and business), especially the private sector with a rise
of around 1.5%, the substantially stability of Fastweb's share (around 10%) is
the result of a fall in the private segment and simultaneous growth in the
business segment, where it has reached practically 22%, which is almost double
BT Italia's share which had decreased in a non-marginal manner (-1.2%).
Table 2.24. Revenues from end users for dial-up and broadband services (%)48
Telecom Italia
Wind
Fastweb
BT Italia
Vodafone Italia
Tiscali
Others
Total
Total
2010
52.8
9.1
17.3
6.0
7.1
3.0
4.6
100.0
7.93
2011
51.9
10.1
17.2
5.2
8.3
3.0
4.3
100.0
7.71
private
2010
52.7
14.4
14.0
0.0
12.1
4.1
2.7
100.0
4.07
2011
51.1
15.8
13.0
0.0
13.7
3.9
2.5
100.0
4.05
business
2010
53.0
3.6
20.8
12.2
1.8
1.9
6.7
100.0
3.86
2011
52.7
3.8
21.8
11.0
2.4
2.1
6.2
100.0
3.67
As it is known, considering a specific sales sector determined by
revenues from accesses and only telephony services, the values of the market
47
The market shares in 2010 (given in the following table), because of certain variations in
the calculation methods used by companies also after the changed structure of the
information which the Authority requests from the companies, reclassifications and, in
some cases, the diverse range of activities performed, cannot be compared directly with
the corresponding values given in the last Report to Parliament.
48
The revenues from services on dial-up network include fixed and mobile local, national
and international vocal traffic and dial up internet traffic towards non-geographic codes.
Revenues from broadband services include fees and voice and data services paid according
to consumption. Access fees are excluded.
90
shares change considerably from those which include diverse aggregates. In this
case Telecom Italia's weight shows a slight increase (Table 2.25), due mainly to
the tariff remodelling in force since 1 July 2011, pursuant to which the basic
monthly subscription fee has increased by approximately 2.6%.
Table 2.25. Distribution of revenues from telephony services and accesses on
dial-up network
Total
private
business
2010
2011 2010
2011
2010
2011
Telecom Italia
72.8
73.0
71.6
71.4
74.3
75.1
Wind
9.0
9.5
14.0
14.8
2.3
2.0
Fastweb
3.9
3.5
1.8
1.3
6.8
6.5
BT Italia
4.6
4.5
0.0
0.0
10.8
10.9
Vodafone Italia
5.9
6.0
9.9
9.9
0.5
0.5
Tiscali
0.3
0.2
0.3
0.2
0.3
0.2
Others
3.5
3.3
2.4
2.3
5.1
4.7
Total
100.0
100.0 100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
7.69
7.20
4.42
4.21
3.28
2.99
With reference to broadband services (Table 2.26), where competitive
dynamics are concentrated to a greater extent, it can firstly be observed that
the broadband market, compared to that of telephony and fixed base fees
(previous table), has increased from 55% to 61% in 2011 (percentages which
correspond to 4.38 billion and 7.2 billion respectively). This is evidence of the
structural decline of the more traditional telecommunication services.
Table 2.26. Distribution of revenues from end services on broadband network
(%)
Total
2010
2011
Telecom Italia
43.4
42.2
Wind
10.4
12.2
Fastweb
27.4
26.2
BT Italia
2.8
1.8
Vodafone group
6.9
8.9
Tiscali
4.4
4.2
Others
4.7
4.5
Total
100.0
100.0
4.25
4.38
private
business
2010
2011
2010
2011
41.7
39.6
45.2
45.1
16.4
18.8
3.8
4.5
22.5
20.2
32.8
33.2
0.0
0.0
5.9
3.8
10.4
13.1
3.1
4.0
6.8
6.2
1.8
1.9
2.2
2.1
7.4
7.4
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
2.24
2.37
2.01
2.01
Telecom Italia's share has been eroded by 1.2% (from 43.4 to 42.2%),
and it falls to below 40% in the private segment, where the loss has been more
than 2 percent. Wind and Vodafone together have gained 3.8%, while Fastweb's
share has dropped because of a considerable re-dimensioning in the private
segment (-2.3%) and corresponding growth, albeit to a lower proportion, in the
business sector, where it has achieved more than one third of the market.
91
2012
Mobile network
In the mobile personal communications services in 2011 (Table 2.27)
the decrease in final expenditure is confirmed, although to a less intense extent
(-1.4%) than that recorded in 2010 (-2%).49
With regard to the two main components, vocal telephony services and
data services, the decrease in the former is more accentuated, falling to below
10 billion (-7.4%).
The intensity of the competition, which has been a
feature of mobile telephony in recent years, seems to be mitigated to a certain
extent by the fact that revenues from voice services in 2011 have substantially
returned to the levels of 2006 (around 9.8 billion at that time), when
consumption, however, was considerably lower if one considers, for example,
that the minutes of traffic were equal to 60% of those registered in 2011.
Table 2.27. Users' expenditure for type of service (€ billions)50
Change
%
'11/'10
Voice services
10.47
9.69
-7.4
Data services
4.53
4.93
8.9
Other revenues
2.18
2.32
6.5
Total
17.17
16.94
-1.4
2010
2011
Revenues from data services continue to increase, albeit to a lesser
extent than the previous year (+8.9% against +9.6% of 2010), but it seems
opportune to point out that in 2011 they exceeded the threshold of 50% of
income from vocal telephony services (Figure 2.12); this value is twice as much
as the corresponding figure registered for 2005 (25.1%).
Figure 2.12. Revenues from data services / vocal telephony services (20052011, in %)
49
The data relative to 2010 are not entirely comparable to those given in the 2011 Annual
Report because of different calculation methods adopted by the companies for the
different types of income considered. The consolidated data, unless otherwise indicated,
also include those of the virtual mobile operators, with data referring to: BT Italia,
Carrefour Italia Mobile, Coop Italia, Daily Telecom, ErgMobile, Fastweb, Noverca, Poste
Mobile and Tiscali.
50
Revenues (in terms of users' expenditure) from voice services include income from vocal
calls to on-net and off-net mobile numbers and to fixed numbers, and from services to
non-geographic codes. The revenues from data services include SMS, MMS, video services
and mobile TV (DVB-H) services, and other data services not indicated in detail. The "other
revenues" include revenue from the sale and rental of terminals, users' appliances,
accessories and all the other revenue categories not expressly considered previously.
92
50,9
50,0
43,3
45,0
37,6
40,0
39,1
35,5
35,0
30,3
30,0
25,1
25,0
20,0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Vocal traffic has increased also in 2011, reaching a total of 136 billion
minutes (Table 2.28); this value now exceeds by more than 60% that relative to
the fixed network (the corresponding ratio in 2010 was approximately 30%).
The analysis of the data relative to traffic according to routes shows
further reinforcement of the mobile-mobile component, i.e. the traffic originated
from mobile numbers is destined prevalently towards other mobile numbers. In
particular, in 2011 82% of traffic from mobile phones was to other users of the
mobile network. In this sphere, the weight of the on-net component is stable
and equal to just less than 60% of the total, while the slight increase in the
weight of the off-net calls seems due, at least in part, to the traffic originated
from and directed to the numbers of the virtual mobile operators.
Table 2.28. Voice traffic of mobile telephony (billions of minutes)
Change
'11/'10
Fixed network
14.2
14.9
5.0
on-net mobile
73.7
81.1
10.0
off-net mobile
27.5
30.3
10.2
Other destinations
8.6
9.6
11.7
Total
124.0
135.9
9.6
2010
2011
%
With regard to revenues, there is a slight decrease in the on-net
component, showing the strong competitive pressure of the market, now
structurally featuring special offers and conditions with particularly aggressive
pricing aimed at reinforcing customer retention (Table 2.29).
93
2012
Table 2.29. On-net component of revenues for vocal calls and sms-mms (% of
the total)
Voice
SMS/MMS
Average
2010
57.6
52.5
56.4
the Authorities on
2011
57.6
51.1
55.9
company data
Table 2.30 illustrates the trend of revenues from vocal telephony
services according to destination where, together with a decrease of around 7%
in income from calls to the mobile network, there is a strong fall (-14.8%) in
revenues from calls to the fixed network.
The general decrease in revenues
has less affected services directed abroad (-1.6%), probably thanks to the
growing presence of foreigners in Italy. In fact, in 2011 the number of foreigners
in Italy reached 4.8 million, with an increase of 300,000 compared to the
previous year.51
Table 2.30. Revenues from voice services according to route (€ billions)
2010
2011
Mobile network
7.58
7.06
- on-net
4.37
4.07
- off-net
3.21
2.99
Fixed network
1.62
1.38
International networks
1.27
1.25
Total
10.47
9.69
Source: processed and estimated by the Authorities
%
change
'11/'10
-6.8
-6.9
-6.8
-14.8
-1.6
-7.4
on company data
Revenues from the supply of data services (Table 2.31), which have
grown altogether by 8.9% (substantially in line with the rate registered in
2010), show strongly differentiated trends, with the applications linked to the
internet, thanks to almost 18% growth in 2011, having for the first time
exceeded the income from SMS (2.4 billion against 2.3 billion).
Table 2.31. Revenues from data services according to type (€ billions)
2010
2011
%
change
'11/'10
1.5
SMS
2.30
2.33
Internet
access
and
2.04
2.41
17.7
navigation
Other data services
0.19
0.19
2.3
Total
4.53
4.93
8.9
This growth is obviously firstly due to the spread of increasingly more
sophisticated terminals (smartphones and tablets) which can support an
51
Source: Istat: “Demographic indicators – Estimates for the year 2011”, ed. 27 January
2012
94
increasing number of applications, and which, in the first quarter of 2012,
numbered 39.4 million (Figure 2.13).52 The SIMs effectively used for traffic data
reached the figure of 19 million (Figure 2.14) in the last quarter of 2011. The
volumes of traffic transmitted on mobile networks exceeded 190 petabytes
(+52% compared to 2010) (Figure 2.15), while growth of 36% is estimated
compared to the corresponding period of 2011. A noteworthy increase in
individual consumption is also estimated, with unit traffic data in 2011 of around
0.9 GB per month, representing 30% more than the corresponding figure for
2010.53
Figure 2.13. UMTS/HSDPA terminals (Dec. 2008 – Mar. 2012, millions)
40
38,6
39,4
38
36
34,5
34
32
29,9
30
28
26,5
26
24
22
20
4T08
4T09
4T10
4T11
1T12
52
The data shown in figures 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15 refer only to the MNO.
The data relative to "unit" traffic has been estimated on the basis of the number of SIMs
which have performed data traffic with an average calculated on the data registered
quarterly, also to update European reporting on mobile broadband.
53
95
2012
Figure 2.14. Data-SIMs and connect cards (Dec. 2008 – Mar. 2012, millions)
20,0
19,0
19,4
17,1
15,0
10,9
10,0
8,1
5,0
6,6
6,2
5,5
4,0
1,6
0,0
4T08
4T09
Sim IP
4T10
4T11
1T12
Connect card
Figure 2.15. Data traffic on mobile network (2008-2011, petabytes)
190
200
180
160
124
140
120
100
68
80
60
40
24
20
0
2008
2009
2010
2011
With reference to the final total expense, the unit revenues per SIM
(Table 2.32) decrease by 4.3% (to less than € 178 a year). This value – as for
that matter already observed for 2010 – is the result of a component, that
relative to voice service, which has fallen steeply (-10%), while that linked to
data services continues to grow (+6.5%).
96
Table 2.32. Unit revenues per active SIM (€ per year)
% change
'11/'10
Total final expenditure
186
178.7
-4.2
Voice services
110.5
99.5
-9.9
Data services
48.4
51.7
6.6
2010
2011
With reference to unit revenues by user54, with a total reduction of
1.7%, voice services show a fall of 7.6%. In parallel, those of data services have
registered growth of 9.4%, exceeding € 100 per year (Table 2.33); this value,
consistently with what is shown in the previous Figure 2.12, is 50% higher than
the expenditure for voice services.
Table 2.33. Unit revenues per user (€ per year)
2010
Total final expenditure
Voice services
Data services
% change
'11/'10
-1.7
-7.6
9.4
on company data
2011
357
351
212
196
93
102
by the Authorities
The continuous competitive pressure, fostered also by the consolidation
process of the virtual mobile operators, has led to a generalised fall in unit
revenues from the main types of services (Table 2.34).
Average revenues per minute of voice traffic have decreased to
approximately 7 Euro cents (-15.5%), those for SMS have fallen by over 3%,
while the concentration of unit revenues per GB of traffic - also thanks to the
spread of flat contracts - is more than 24%
Table 2.34. Unit revenues for voice, SMS and data traffic
Voice conversation (€ cents/minute)
2010
2011
8.32
7.03
%
change
'11/'10
-15.5
54
Average annual users in 2010 and 2011 have been estimated at 48.04 and 48.20 million
respectively. This estimate is based on the structure by the age of the Italian population at
31.12.2009 and at 31.12.2010 available at the Istat website at http://demo.istat.it and a
corresponding estimate relative to 31.12.2011 based on the variation in total population
occurring in 2011 and published in “Demographic indicators – estimates for the year
2011”. Following the same procedure as that used for the last Report, children of less than
11 years of age have been excluded (primary school age) and the elderly in the over 80
year-old age group. Of the individuals falling between these two age brackets, 95% were
assumed as actually being users of mobile services.
97
2012
SMS sent (€ cent/message)
2.71
2.62
-3.2
Data traffic (€/GB)*
18.01
13.65
-24.2
* The revenues from data services considered refer to WAP Internet access and
navigation, mobile TV services and MMS and other contents generated by users terminals.
With regard to the competitive framework of mobile telephony,
measured in terms of the sharing of the economic resources produced by the
retail market, in 2011 Vodafone consolidated its position as market leader
(36.1%), while Telecom Italia's share has fallen (34.5%). Wind has grown in
both the private and business segments, while H3G has lost ground in both
markets (Table 2.35). The integration of mobile services with postal and
financial services seems to be one of the factors at the basis of the growth
achieved by the virtual mobile operators in the business segment (+1.4%),
where a parallel erosion of Telecom Italia's market share can be observed, which
has nevertheless maintained a weight of more than 51%.
Table 2.35. Market shares considering final expenditure by type of clientèle (%)
55
- of which
of
which
private
business
customers
customers
2010
2011
2010
2011
2010
2011
Telecom Italia
35.7
34.5
31.3
30.5
53.2
51.3
Vodafone
35.9
36.1
39.1
39.2
23.0
23.7
Wind
18.5
19.2
20.8
21.4
9.6
9.8
H3G
8.0
7.6
6.9
6.5
12.4
12.0
MVNO
1.9
2.6
1.9
2.4
1.8
3.2
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
Total (€ billions) 17.17
16.94
13.74
13.62
3.43
3.31
Final expenditure
With the aim of supplying more elements useful for understanding the
competitive dynamics in force in the mobile telephony market, the following
Table 2.36 indicates, with reference to total final expenditure, detail of the
division of the resources according to type of mobile operator (MNO/MVNO).
55
The market shares for 2011, because of certain variations in the calculation methods
and reclassifications adopted by the companies (except for "3", all present in both fixed
and mobile telephony), cannot be compared with the corresponding values given in the
previous Report to Parliament.
98
Table 2.36. User expenditure – division of resources by type of operator (%)
MNO
2010
2011
MVNO
2010
Telecom Italia
Vodafone
Wind
H3G
Total
36.4
36.6
18.9
8.2
100.0
Poste Mobile
Fastweb
BT Italia
Coop Italia
Daily Telecom
54.2
21.4
6.6
7.0
5.9
16.86
35.4
37.1
19.7
7.8
100.0
16.5
1
201
1
54.4
17.5
13.1
6.0
5.0
Others
4.8
4.1
Total
100.0
0.32
100.
0
0.43
Among the virtual mobile operators, the success of the business model
has been confirmed, based on the integration with the fixed network services
traditionally offered, in particular, by BT Italia and Fastweb and, above all, that
based on the integration of postal and financial services adopted by Poste
Mobile. In this regard, it is of interest to note that the number of economic
operations carried out by users (e.g. payment of bills, card recharges, etc.)
carried out in 2011 has reached the figure of 19 million, with an increase of
more than 50% compared to 2010.
In this regard, the total value of economic transactions carried out in
2011 has reached the sum of € 200 million (+47%), while in terms of usage
intensity, the number of operations per person has increased by 12%.
Examining voice and data services in detail (Table 2.37) a fall of more
than 1% can be observed on the part of Telecom Italia; Vodafone shows no
change of relevance, while Wind, with growth of 1%, has greatly exceeded 19%.
The competitive dynamics are particularly lively in the data segment:
Telecom Italia loses 1.7%, to the advantage of the MVNO and above all Wind,
which has gained a 2.5% increase.
Table 2.37. Market shares of voice and data services (%)56
Voice + data
2010
2011
Telecom Italia
36.1
34.8
Vodafone
36.5
36.5
Wind
18.4
19.4
H3G
7.2
6.8
MVNO
1.8
2.5
Total
100.0
100.0
15.00
14.62
Voice services
Data services
2010
2011
2010
2011
37.0
36.2
33.9
32.2
36.1
35.9
37.4
37.7
19.5
19.9
16.0
18.5
5.3
5.2
11.5
9.9
2.1
2.9
1.2
1.8
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
10.47
9.69
4.53
4.93
56
Compared to users' total expenditure (see preceding Table 2.27), the figures given are
those of the shares relative to only the core services of the mobile managers (voice and
data), therefore excluding the “other revenues” component, i.e. income deriving from the
sale of other services and products such as devices and other terminals and accessories.
99
2012
In 2011 the number of active SIMs grew by over 2.2 million units, 1.7
million of which are represented by lines under subscription contracts, which
altogether account for 16.9% of the total (15.5% in 2010) (Table 2.38). The
increase in this type of contract – which in absolute value is more or less equally
distributed between private and business users – on one hand reflects, as
already shown last year, customer retention strategies implemented by the
companies by means of bundle offers with conditions similar to long-term
subscriptions, and on the other it is due to the spread of the data-SIMs, sold
mainly through postpaid contracts.
Table 2.38. Active SIMs by type of customer and type of contract (in
thousands)
Private
customers
2010
Active lines
- of which, prepaid
2011
81,78 83,425
2
77,806 78,511
Business
customers
2010
Total
2011
2010
2011
11,853
12,488
93,636
95,912
1,274
1,121
79,080
79,633
- of which, postpaid
3,976
4,913
10,580
11,367
14,556
16,280
With regard to the division of the active SIMs among the various mobile
operators, in 2011 a fall in Vodafone's weight in the private segment can be
seen, with a similar increase in that of Telecom Italia, Wind and the MVNO
(around +0.5% each). In the business market, the share of H3G has fallen (2.7%), to the advantage of all the other operators and, in particular, Vodafone
(+1.3%) (Table 2.39).
Table 2.39. Active SIMs per operator (%)
Total number
Telecom Italia
Vodafone
Wind
H3G
MVNO
Total
Total SIMs (mln)
2010
33.1
32.7
21.3
9.7
3.2
100.0
93.63
2011
33.6
31.2
21.8
9.6
3.8
100.0
95.91
- private
customers
2010
2011
30.1
30.5
33.7
31.8
23.6
24.3
9.1
9.4
3.5
4.0
100.0
100.0
81.78
83.42
- business
customers
2010
2011
53.7
54.4
25.8
27.1
5.2
5.4
13.8
11.2
1.5
1.9
100.0
100.0
11.85
12.49
Corresponding to what is shown above relative to users' expenditure, in
the Table 2.40 details of the division of the active SIMs (and relative trend)
according to type of operator are given.
100
Table 2.40. Active SIMs - division according to type of operator (%)
MVNO57
2010 2011
Poste Mobile
55.7
56.1
Fastweb
16.6
15.0
Coop Italia
8.0
7.8
Carrefour
1.6
1.1
ErgMobile
5.8
7.0
Others
12.3
13.0
Total
100.0 100.0
Total SIMs (mln)
3.03
3.61
MNO
Telecom Italia
Vodafone
Wind
H3G
Total
Total SIMs (mln)
2010
34.2
33.8
22.0
10.0
100.0
90.60
2011
34.8
32.5
22.7
10.0
100.0
92.30
The trend of the total customer base, determined by the dynamics of the
lines transferred and those regarding the purchase of new lines – mainly
through the activation of the mobile number portability service – provides a
significant indicator of the state of competition on the market.
In this regard, it is worth noting that the sum of all the lines acquired
and transferred in 2011 has exceeded 50 million, equal to 53.2% (figure
referring only to the MNO) of the average annual number of active SIMs.
The total of the operations carried out through the Mobile Number
Portability service in 2011 exceeded 37 million (+8.4 million compared to 2010)
(Figure 2.16), showing a success due to several factors. With regard to the
market, it can be explained by the increasingly lively competition, involving
particularly aggressive sale offers by the companies, destined exclusively to
other operators' customers, with activation of the service allowing the user to
keep the number used with the previous operator.
At the same time, the
effectiveness of the regulatory measures adopted for the implementation of the
service must also be underlined. For that matter, with the entry into force of
resolution no. 147/11/CIR, the time required for the activation of the service has
been further reduced to less than two working days (see infra chap. 3.1.2.2).
57
The data relative to 2010 differ from the figures given in table 2.38 of the last Report
and from those given in the update relative to the 4th quarter of 2011 of the quarterly
Observatory available at the Authority's internet site because, in the last update at 30
March 2012, some operators modified the recording systems of the company databases,
due to which it has been opportune to adjust the historic series of reference for
standardisation purposes.
101
2012
Figure 2.16. Mobile Number Portability (2006 - March 2012, millions)
39,6
40
37,1
35
28,8
30
25
23,2
19,0
20
15,0
15
10,8
10
5
0
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
mar 2012
Table 2.41 shows on an annual basis the specific dynamics, for each
single operator, of the trend of total operations in terms of lines surrendered and
acquired (donors and recipients).
As "donor" operators, with a decrease of
just under 3%, H3G and Vodafone seem to have put into practice effective
strategies for customer retention. Considering the quality flow trends of
"recipient" operators, it can be noted that Telecom Italia's result increases from
10% to 22.9%, to the detriment of Wind and above all the virtual mobile
operators (-8.6%). In this regard, it can also be observed – after being on the
market for about four years and with a customer base with limited growth in the
second part of 2011 (+0.18 million against 0.4 million in the first six months) –
that the MVNO have gradually mitigated the novelty profile attributed to them
by the market and pursuant to which in the last year they acquired almost one
out of every five customers who left other providers.
Table 2.41. Mobile Number Portability: distribution between operators (%)
Donor
Recipient
2010
2011
2010
2011
H3G
14.0
11.3
8.2
9.8
Telecom Italia
28.9
31.4
9.6
22.9
Vodafone
32.4
29.6
33.2
31.5
Wind
19.1
22.3
31.3
26.5
MVNO
5.5
5.3
17.8
9.2
Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
102
2.2. The media sector
In 2011, the total media sector (including both advertising and revenues
from payment offers) was substantially stable, in nominal terms (+0.5%, which
represents a contraction in real terms of more than two percent), after the
decrease registered in 2009 (-6%) and the recovery in 2010 (+5%). This figure
represents the result of two opposite trends: on one hand, the traditional media
(traditional television, the press and radio) registered a fall, while on the other
there was growth of the new digital media, especially linked to the world of the
internet 2.0. In 2011, therefore, network access forms and the exploitation of
online contents, no longer strictly linked to the computer but available by means
of devices with greater appeal to the Italian public, like smartphones, tablets
and connected TVs, have been successful.
The following graph illustrates the evolution of the media sector, in terms
of resources, from 2008 to 2011, offering significant indications regarding the
recent changes in the weight of the diverse means (Figure 2.17).
Figure 2.17. Evolution of the resources of the communication means (€ mln)
(*)
For 2011, the value shown in the Figure represents the Authority's estimate.
Source: processed by Agcom on company data
A first interesting figure is represented by the fact that while certain
means have followed the evolution illustrated above, i.e. discontinuous and
strongly influenced by the economic situations, some markets have grown
progressively and, lastly, the positions of others have constantly fallen back.
Free television is an emblematic example of the economic trend, since,
although it has continued over the years to represent the means with the
capacity to attract more economic resources, it was strongly influenced by the
crisis in 2009, and, like the other media, made a come-back in 2010, to then
again suffer from the general depression of 2011, due mainly to the drastic
decrease in investments in advertising. On the contrary, pay television has
shown a constant growth trend over the years, demonstrating the increasing
public interest towards strongly targeted programming of particular appeal. In
fact, as will be examined in more detail (see chap. 2.2.1), in the last year the
traditional television component, linked to the generalised programme
scheduling, has begun to show certain suffering in terms of audience, while the
103
2012
new theme channels broadcast on digital terrestrial television have shown
greater dynamism. This trend must be taken into consideration together with
the growing success of new forms of the viewing of televisions contents, which
show the need, increasingly felt by users, of contents that are more customised
and more consumable when and where they want58.
Further proof of the complementary nature between television (especially
unencrypted) and radio is shown by the fact that the latter medium (see
paragraph 2.2.2) has followed the same tendency as free television over the
years, enjoying a positive trend in 2008 and 2010, but losing resources over the
years featured by a negative economic situation, as in 2009 and, to a lesser
extent, in 2011.
While the same considerations made above relative to the radio can also
be made for magazines, the daily press has been in constant decline from 2008
until today. The decline has been even more evident in 2011, the year in which
the traditional press suffered strong contraction both in terms of copies sold and
in terms of advertising revenues. As regards the daily press, the companies
have sustained a significant reduction in their gross operating margins. The fall
in advertising income has strongly influenced the revenues of the daily press,
while, in spite of the fall in circulation, the revenues from copies sold have held
firm thanks to the price increases applied in the two-year term 2010-2011 (see
paragraph 2.2.3)59.
On the contrary, the readers of daily newspapers and magazines on the
internet, via the relative fixed and mobile applications (PCs, smartphones,
tablets), have increased considerably, demonstrating the lasting interest on the
part of the public for information, culture, entertainment and literature.
Precisely the internet seems to be the medium which, over the years, has
gained an increasing weight out of the total of all resources, in line with the
progressive digitalisation process which has featured our country in recent
years, being thus confirmed as the medium to which the major potential is
connected (see paragraph 2.2.4). As already observed, with a constant fall
registered for printed matter in terms of copies sold, readers show a marked
appreciation of the online version of the same newspapers, inducing publishers
to rethink their business policies, offering the same products via the new digital
media. In the same way, although there is a conspicuous reduction in revenues
from advertising via the various media (see paragraph 2.2.5), income from
online advertising, again last year, has shown a very positive trend. The offer of
audiovisual media services on the web (AMS) is also undergoing a decided
proliferation, while the success of videos, which has already been increasing for
some years, continues.
With this diverse trend between traditional and new media, the weight of
the two spheres is still very unbalanced. In fact, the resources attracted by the
new media (about 10% in 2011), albeit constantly growing, is still strongly
58
See “Osservatorio New Media & New Internet” (New Media & New Internet Observatory
of Milan Polytechnic).
59
In the FIEG report "La stampa in Italia 2009-2011" (The press in Italy 2009-2011), the
cost containment policies which have also featured the sector in the last year are also
mentioned.
104
disproportioned in respect of the weight of the traditional media (90%) (Figure
2.18).
Figure 2.18. Traditional media vs. the internet
(*)
For 2011, the value shown in the Figure represents the Authority's estimate.
This shows that in spite of the technological evolution that has featured
the national economy in the last decade, the Italian public remains, to a
considerable extent, anchored to the use of traditional media, which still
accompanies the implementation of more evolved forms of the use of the
diverse products, but by which it is not replaced. This holds true especially for
television, while in the case of the printed press (daily newspapers) the
transition to the new media, which began some years ago, has produced
significant results.
As described several times by the Authority in its own provisions, the
media represents markets which are separate but connected to each other, and
it presents a two-sided structure. On one hand, the consumers satisfy their need
for information, communication and entertainment by the communication media
(television, press, radio, the Internet, etc.). On the other, advertisers demand
space from the publishers of the communications media to promote their
products to the final consumers in exchange for a number of advertising
contacts achieved by the said media. In this sense, the publishers of the various
communication media, whose total revenues are given above, represent the
platforms which put the two sides of the media market into contact with each
other, on one hand the consumers, on the other the advertisers.
105
2012
While the analysis of the total revenues of the media publishers'
advertising and entertainment offer is calculated by the Authority by an
assessment and analysis system of the media markets (the System Economic
Report; see paragraph 3.2.1.2) based on the annual information that all daily
newspaper and magazine publishers, radio and television broadcasters, website
publishers and providers of audiovisual media services are obliged to give, as
well as the brokers who collect advertising for such media, the demand of both
sides, however, is monitored by two Observatories (see paragraph 3.2.1).
The first, regarding the consumption of communication media by
consumers, was founded a latere on the basis of the procedure of the
identification of the relevant markets of the Integrated Communications System
pursuant to resolution no. 555/10/CONS. This Observatory allows for monitoring
the evolution of the ways of using the diverse communication and information
means by users, taking into account the growing availability of new ways of
implementing media products and services, which are progressively found side
by side with traditional means (see Annual Report 2010).
Furthermore, in order to reconstruct the overall trend of investments in
advertising on the various communications means, a Permanent Observatory
was also established, in 2011, on the demand for classic and below-the-line
advertising on the part of advertisers (based on a sample of 1,500 advertisers),
the results of which will be presented during the current year.
In view of this Annual Report, the Authority deemed it opportune to
examine the media sector more in depth. While last year the analysis focused on
the demand for information on the part of citizens (precisely through the
Observatory on the consumption of communication means), this year it was
deemed useful to concentrate attention on the offer of information on the part of
the professionals of the sector.
The analysis was particularly directed at verifying the more or less
significant presence, for each medium, of subjects, typically journalists,
delegated to supply news to the public. The inquiry, the results of which are
illustrated in the following graph, shows, for an average number of journalists of
the sector of more than 13 thousand, a significant number of the same in the
sector of the printed press (which absorbs more than 70% of the total), unlike
internet and radio, the journalistic component of which is almost insignificant.
Lastly, television occupies about 20% of Italian journalists.
These results are linked to the specific nature of the media, according to
which the daily newspapers represent an almost exclusively informative medium
(and in fact they occupy the majority of journalists, with almost half of the
entire information panorama, Figure 2.19), while radio is prevalently an
entertainment medium (musical), while magazines and television have an
intermediate nature. Lastly, with regard to the internet, from an information
viewpoint, this medium is still in an initial phase in Italy and many journalists of
the printed page are also used for updating the on-line news of their respective
newspapers.
106
Figure 2.19. Journalists per medium
The comparison between demand and offer brings to light a rather
interesting figure. In fact, although television, as also found last year, is by far
the most preferred means of learning news of international, national and local
facts (with a penetration which reaches 90% of the population seeking
information), the personnel of this medium dedicated to satisfying the demand
for information is limited to 22% of the total.
In particular, from the joint analysis of the information demand and offer
data in Italy, it emerges that magazines are the medium with the highest
number of journalists in respect of the citizens who request information from the
medium (approximately 120 journalists every 100,000 citizens); this medium is
followed by daily newspapers (32), TV (10), radio (9) and the internet (5). This
is obviously the result of the interaction between citizens' demand for
information, on one side (Italians request less information from magazines - 9%
- and radio - 19% -, more from TV - 90% -, daily newspapers - 62% - and the
internet - 21% - respectively; see Table 2.44 of the 2010 Annual Report), and,
on the other side, the offer (see Figure 2.20). For these figures, the diverse (and
higher) ratio between the offer and demand of information from the printed
press (newspapers and magazines) is evident, compared to the radio-television
compartment.
107
2012
Figure 2.20. Number of journalists every 100,000 citizens who request
information from the media
Source: Agcom estimates
The emphasis on information inevitably introduces the subject of the
public policies aimed at supporting the information offer in the country. In fact,
at both political level and at the level of the category associations, the entity and
methods of such action is now being rethought. The present trend of public
accounts imposes an increasingly more efficient and virtuous allocation of the
limited resources available. The provisions in force cause serious doubts to arise
regarding the achievement of the objective. For that matter, this discussion is
part of a debate at world level on the forms of financing information (private and
possibly public) in a context of digital affirmation.
The Authority has therefore carried out a targeted survey on the entity
and the effects of public intervention on the various media. In particular, it
examined the role played by direct public contributions (i.e. by grants and
agreements entered by the companies in their balance sheets under an income
item) on the economic performance of the media publishers, as well as on the
expansion of the pluralism of the information. Whereas the following paragraphs
analyse the effect of such intervention on the various media (TV, radio and the
press), this paragraph introduces a few short comments of a general order.
Firstly, it must be underlined that a deeper analysis, especial on new
intervention methods, goes beyond the aims of this Annual Report, and can be
the subject of a specific survey (in particular, in the Observation's second cycle
on consumption of the media on the part of citizens). On this occasion,
quantitative data are given that are useful (to the Legislator but not only) for an
analysis of the phenomenon.
In the first place, in 2010, the entity of such contributions (therefore
disregarding other indirect forms of public support) was equal to just under €
500 million (also including grants issued to the news agencies).
108
In the second place, the distribution of these contributions by information
means (see Figure 2.21) is unbalanced in favour of TV and daily newspapers
(which receive all together over 70% of the grants), while for radio, magazines
and the internet, the entity of public intervention is more marginal. For that
matter, this appears to be in line with the role played, at least on the demand
side, by the television system and by the daily press in satisfying citizens'
request for information.
Figure 2.21. Distribution of direct public contributions divided by type of media
However, as will be illustrated in the following paragraphs, the entity of
this intervention, for that matter of a structural and lasting nature, does not
seem to be appreciably reflected in terms of the expansion of the information
panorama in Italy. On this occasion, it seems useful to consider another effect of
this intervention.
At the moment, the daily newspapers (national and local), the local TVs
and radios60 which receive public contributions, represent about 60% of all
subjects which practise these activities (see Figure 2.22). Furthermore, for 40%
of daily newspapers, 35% of local TVs and 30% of local radios which receive
public contributions, this economic item represents one fourth of their income.
This is in an economic situation in which revenues from the operations of such
subjects is on the whole negative.
60
The examination was carried out on daily newspapers (national and local) and on local
radios and TV, since these subjects are the major recipients of such aid.
109
2012
Figure 2.22. Distribution of companies according to weight of direct
contributions on income (%)
It therefore seems possible to conclude that such contributions, generally
issued in a non-selective manner, not only do not seem to be in line with the
objectives at which they are aimed, but they do not even seem to satisfy the
static and dynamic allocation efficiency criteria, having, for that matter, created
a system heavily dependent on public aid. The rethinking of such measures now
in progress must therefore give a better answer to criteria of efficiency and
selectivity and, more in general, they must be based on careful assessment of
the economic-social costs and benefits of the public aid.
2.2.1. Television
Introductory framework: legislative changes and market evolution
The innovative drive introduced by the digitalisation of audiovisual
services which featured the television sector in 2010 continued in 2011, leading
to further changes both in the models of the operators' model and in the way of
consuming television contents. The television screen is still the means for
consuming audiovisual content with major penetration among families, while the
computer struggles to get a hold as a real substitute for the consumption of
television services, in terms of both availability and quality.
From the technological viewpoint, the improvement in the performance of
the broadband networks to private customers, together with the spread of
connected devices, has favoured the progressive integration of traditional digital
television with the internet-web environment, giving live to an intermediate
system between IPTV and Web TV, in which access services and video and
multimedia contents are issued to users equipped with broadband connections
by service providers which often operate independently of the providers of the
110
broadband services. This system, known as “Over-the-Top” (OTT), thus allows
for associating traditional television transmissions, linked to a predefined
programme schedule, with a wide range of services and contents coming from
the internet, which can be used any time and anywhere via the television screen
thanks to connectible "hybrid" devices61.
At the end of 2011, Italian families with devices suitable for the reception
of services and contents distributed via IP-based over the top systems on their
own television screens are increasing62, as the interest towards greater
customisation and flexibility of the consumption of audiovisual services pushes
the players on the market to propose new 63smart TV and catch-up TV offers.
Broadcasters, in particular, aim to direct their offers towards pay models, hoping
to win over the diffidence of the suppliers of valuable content to make available
high value content on the internet. In the same way, the multi-play operators
aim to exploit the link between broadband and television, encouraging
customers to subscribe to bundle packets.
Television content therefore maintains all its appeal, as confirmed by the
development of consumption forms based on the active research of content on
the internet, and from the increasingly closer link between audiovisual product
and the social networks/blogs, which do not only represent virtual places where
users exchange information and comments on a television programme, but also
where the television personalities themselves promote their own programmes,
increasing the contact with viewers and the link between the small screen and
the web.
As has already occurred for daily newspapers and magazines, also for
television the traditional operators' role is threatened by subjects which
aggregate content, and also its own privileged source of revenues, represented
by the sale of advertising space, risks erosion, not only as a consequence of the
fall in audience, but also by the progressive affirmation of alternative models of
finding public resources based on greater "targeting" of users which is possible
thanks to the network. In this context, traditional operators increasingly feel the
need to reformulate their own strategies to avoid succumbing to the rapid rise of
the new aggregators of the internet 2.0.
Given this, it must be noted that, also in the presence of the highlighted
developments of new platforms and of innovative devices, traditional television
still maintains its central role, and only this year was an erosion registered in the
61
The television connection to broadband services can be direct (connected TV), and in
this case the content is offered directly by the television set suppliers, or it can be supplied
via a CPE (customer premises equipment) device, i.e. a specific hardware device linked to
the user's broadband home network - typical of the IPTV set-top box which connects the
home network to the television set - but also Blu-ray readers and game consoles equipped
with ports for connection to the broadband services.
62
It is estimated that by 2013 there will be about 10 million television sets and Blu-ray
readers in Italian homes that can be connected to the network, involving more than 40%
of Italian families.
63
This model is based on technologies that can provide priority transmission of video
traffic through commercial content delivery networks managed not only by network
operators but also by independent subjects. Examples of these are the Cubovision service
offered by Telecom Italia, based on OTT platform accessible via the web, connected TV
and set-top-box owned by the user, and Fastbweb's Chili TV, based on OTT platform
accessible through connected TV, Telesystem decoder and other devices.
111
2012
audiences of the generalised networks and a shift of the audience towards more
targeted channels and new platforms.
Italy therefore needs to exploit the occasions dictated by the technological
and economic progress, favouring the development of new forms of consuming
audiovisual contents. This technological development in fact represents an
important occasion to enlarge the number of operators, to expand the range of
services, unencrypted and for payment, available to the consumer, with evident
influence on the competitive balances and on the pluralism of the information.
Similarly, the need is confirmed to contrast the elements which hinder this
process, which include, first and foremost, the availability of sufficient band for
the use of the services without interruption - which depends on the state of
congestion of the network made available by the infrastructure of the operator and, in addition, there is always a need for attractive content for the users,
winning over the resistance of the holders of the same against transmission via
the network. In fact, from this viewpoint, Italy is behind the other countries in
the development of a market of digital contents transmitted via IP, which risks
further penalising the still limited growth of the offers on the new system.
From the legislative viewpoint, Italian law no. 220 of 13 December 2010,
introducing “Provisions for the formation of the annual and long-term State
budget (the 2011 Stability Law)”, has ruled that the frequencies of the band
from 790 MHz to 862 MHz (UHF channels 61-69) are intended for the mobile
terrestrial service from 1 January 2013. Consequently, in harmony with the
Recommendations adopted by the European Union and in accordance with what
has already been established by the other European countries, 9 channels will
thus be removed from radio and television broadcasting and will constitute the
so-called "external dividend". This provision has required an adaptation to the
National Plan for the assignment of the frequencies and of the detailed plans
aimed to ensure, in the areas not yet planned, the availability of channels 61-69
while, in the areas that have already changed over to the digital system, the
continuance of plants operating on these channels is allowed until the
digitalisation process has been completed for the whole country. The said
provision has therefore imposed an acceleration on the calendar established for
the changeover to digital terrestrial transmission, which should therefore be
completed within the first six months of 2012.
General framework
After the contraction of 2009 and the recovery of 2010, in the last year
there has been a further fall (-1.4%), concerning above all free television, and
which has decreased the total of the economic resources to below € 9 billion
(Table 2.42)64. Compared to 2010, when the free and pay television markets, in
respect of the previous year, showed similar growth rates, equal to 4.5%, the
revenues of free television have undergone a decrease of 2.5%, while for pay
64
In this and the next paragraphs, the value of the media market resources is measured in
terms of retail revenues, therefore excluding the part of income from wholesale activities
(in the case of television, the sale of transmission capacity, the sale of content, etc.). This
is because the relevant markets defined for the purpose of protecting pluralism envisage,
by law, only the retail component, while the wholesale component regards other markets
analysed in the antitrust sphere (e.g. that of television broadcasting and of the
infrastructures for radio and television broadcasting. See C11205 – Industrial/Digital
Multimedia Electronic Technologies, AGCM provision no. 23117 of 14 December 2011).
112
television, registering substantial stability (+0.3%), the weight of the total of
television resources has increased (from 37.7% for 2010 to 38.4% for 2011).
Table 2.42. Total television revenues divided according to relevant market
2010
Revenues (€ mln.)
2011(*)
Δ2011/2010
(%)
Incidence on
the total
(2011)
Free TV
5,618.78
5,479.44
-2.5
61.6%
Pay TV
3,406.17
3,414.90
0.3
38.4%
Total
9,024.95
8,894.34
-1.4
100.0%
(*)
Estimated values.
The fall in total television revenues is due mainly to the fall in advertising
investments which was a feature of last year. While in 2010 there was a strong
recovery of advertising income, which had registered an increase on 2009 of
7.5%, in 2011 there was a decrease equal to -4.2%. As emerging from Table
2.43, advertising nevertheless continues to represent the main source of
financing, above all for unencrypted television, and it therefore still has a strong
presence, equal to 46.1%, of total television resources. Contrary to the trend of
advertising revenues, compared to the previous year, the licence for the public
radio-television service and the payment offers increased slightly (by 1.4% and
0.9% respectively), but less than the increase in 2010 compared to the previous
year. This obviously led to an increase in the weight of the two last components
out of the total of television resources.
Table 2.43. Total television revenues divided according to type
Revenues (€ mln.)
2010
2011(*)
Δ2011/20
10 (%)
Incidence
on the total
(2011)
18.1%
34.1%
46.1%
1.7%
100.0%
Licences(**)
1,586.15
1,607.72
1.4
Offers for payment
3,006.60
3,034.07
0.9
Advertising
4,282.36
4,102.70
-4.2
(***)
Grants/Agreements
149.85
149.85
0.0
Total
9,024.95
8,894.34
-1.4
(*)
Estimated values.
(**)
For the correct allocation of the amount of the licence fee to be assigned to television
activity, the separate accounting system of RAI was taken into account, relative to the
financial year 2010, and the relative accounting aggregates: the licence fees to be
attributed to television broadcasting were calculated by applying to the total value a
percentage equal to the direct costs attributed to the public service (so-called aggregate A
of the official accounts).
(***)
The figure is taken as being constant in 2011.
While the crisis of the advertising component is clearly linked to that of
the revenues of the major advertisers, which in this year of recession have
decreased their advertising budgets, the deceleration of the growth of pay offers
is linked to the evolution of consumers' real income. In this sense, the loss of
purchasing power registered in these years by consumers is even greater in the
case of pay-TV since, as can be understood from Figure 2.23, the prices of the
pay offers have increased, from 2005 until today, to a greater extent than the
113
2012
general price index. Vice versa, the licence fee, i.e. the tax for owning a
television set, has followed an evolution in line with that of inflation.
Figure 2.23. Trend of television service prices
Source: Istat
Analysing the position of the various operators in the television sector
given in Table 2.44, it emerges that over 90% of the total resources of the
sector are still held by Mediaset, Rai and Sky Italia, even if all three operators
have registered, in absolute terms, a fall compared to 2010, mainly due to the
decrease in advertising revenues. In proportional terms, there was a slight
variation last year in the weight of the aforesaid operators in respect of the total
of the resources of the sector, with a slight increase for Mediaset and Rai
compared to Sky. On the contrary, Telecom Italia, through its subsidiary
Telecom Italia Media, underwent an inverse trend with growth in the advertising
component of its own revenues, thanks to the performance of La7. Its incidence
on the total of the resources of the sector has therefore increased, even if it is
still below 2%. The other operators which broadcast unencrypted television
programmes and the pay TV operators collect together 7.6% of the total
resources, and their individual market shares tend to decrease and are far lower
than the fourth Italian television group.
114
Table 2.44. Television revenues divided by operator
Revenues (€ mln.)
2010
Mediaset
Advertising
Pay offers
Grants/Agreements
(***)
NewsCorp. / Sky Italia
Advertising
Pay offers
RAI
2011(*)
Δ2011/201
0 (%)
2,893.16
2,865.75
-0.9
2,433.37
2,347.90
-3.5
458.35
516.41
12.7
1.44
1.44
2,706.44
2,657.53
-1.8
268.92
244.61
-9.0
2,437.52
2,412.92
-1.0
2,571.93
2,537.61
-1.3
1,586.15
1,607.72
1.4
Advertising
946.58
890.69
-5.9
Grants/Agreements(***)
39.20
39.20
0.0
Telecom Italia Media
154.15
160.41
4.1
154.15
160.41
4.1
699.27
673.04
-3.8
479.33
459.10
-4.2
110.74
104.73
-5.4
109.21
109.21
0.0
9,024.95
8,894.34
Advertising
Other operators
Advertising
Pay offers
Grants/Agreements
Total
(***)
32.2%
0.0
(**)
Licences
Incidence on
the total
(2011)
29.9%
28.5%
1.8%
7.6%
-1.4
(*)
Estimated values.
(***)
The figure is taken as being constant in 2011.
(**)
Demand for television entertainment and information
Again in 2011, in spite of the fall in audience which affected the generalist
broadcasters (see infra), the dynamic analysis of the audience data - based on
the share of an average day (Figure 2.24) - shows that the positions of the
historic operators are still featured by an unchallenged predominance. In
particular, compared to 2010, RAI continues to exceed 40%, in spite of a one
percent loss, while Mediaset registered a decrease of 2%, falling to 35.3%. This
loss is mainly due to the decrease of the six generalised channels of the two
broadcasters (RAI 1, RAI 2, RAI 3, Rete 4, Canale 5 and Italia 1), whose
average daily share has fallen from 73% in 2010 to 67% in 2011. This loss of
almost 6 percentage points was only partly recovered by the increase in the
115
2012
audience share achieved by Rai and Mediaset through their respective theme
channels (over 8% in 2011, with an increase of more than 3 percentage points
compared to the value of the previous year). The two operators therefore still
reach 75.5% of the audience.
Compared to the historic operators, the trend of the other terrestrial
broadcasters seems to be rising, with an increase in the last year of 1% and
thus moving from 11.3% in 2010 to 12.4% in 2011. In particular, La7 has
increased its own audience share in one year from 3.07% to 3.87%, while the
remaining growth was dictated by the success of certain unencrypted theme
channels (see infra).
In the same way, the satellite broadcasters have continued their ascent,
above all thanks to the increasingly more articulated offer of the Sky platform,
achieving, in the last year, a very significant result if compared to the decrease
of the main terrestrial broadcasters. In 2011, the audiences of the Sky pay
bouquet (including the Fox channels) in fact increased from 4.9% to 5.2%, while
satellite TV, considered as a whole, reached almost 12% of the media audience
share. On this front, it is worth noting the slow growth of the free Tivusat
satellite platform, created with the purpose of reaching the areas not covered by
the digital terrestrial service, which is gaining its own slice of the market.
Therefore, from the audience viewpoint, on one hand there is a certain
inertia in the operators' positions (with the first two which still hold three
quarters of the audience and the first four holding approximately 85%), and on
the other side there is a decline in the generalist channels against the decisive
success of the theme channels, showing viewers' interest in programmes which
more closely correspond to their own target of reference and, therefore, to a
more customised television product.
Figure 2.24. Dynamic analysis of the average annual audience (2000-2011)
Source: processed by Agcom on Auditel data
Comparing, from 2010 to today, the reception modes of the television
product on the part of the users, the changes produced by the digitalisation
116
process in progress are striking. In fact, the switch-over process is in the final
stage and most of the population now consume audiovisual contents via digital
terrestrial technology. According to the 2012 estimates, illustrated in Table 2.45,
analogue television, the audience share of which, as recently as 2010, was
absolutely higher than that of the other platforms, now plays a residual role and
is about to be completely replaced by terrestrial digital mode. This latter now
has an audience share of approximately 72%, and it has grown, compared to
2010, by 37%. Digital satellite technology is also continuously increasing and in
March 2012 it has reached an audience share of 16.6%, while IPTV remains
limited to a marginal and decreasing 0.2%.
In spite of the growth of satellite TV, the most marked phenomenon,
again this year, is that of the replacement, on the demand side, of analogue
reception by digital terrestrial reception. The deceleration in the growth of IPTV,
especially if considered in the light of what has been pointed out relative to the
growing success achieved by the new methods of consuming audiovisual
content, represents, instead, a phenomenon which is compensated by – and in
part explained by – the simultaneous development, by both the
telecommunications operators themselves and by the new players, of a new
generation of platforms for the distribution of audiovisual content via IP.
Table 2.45. Television audiences by platform
Platform
Analogue
Digital terrestrial
Satellite
IPTV
March 2010
March 2012
Average
Average
Share (%)
Share (%)
audience
audience
5,055,873
48.0
1,196,198
11.0
3,763,948
35.7
7,814,445
71.9
1,586,942
15.1
1,807,831
16.6
29,845
0.3
20,074
0.2
Source: processed by Agcom on Auditel data
Also from an informative viewpoint, the new televisions have a growing
role in the national panorama (see Table 2.46). For example, the La7 news, in
2011, reached audience values of between 5% (in the morning and during the
day) and 10% (in the evening). In this case, however, the role of pay TV is
more limited if one considers that the main pay TV news (Sky TG 24) does not
exceed a share of 0.5%. However, the audiences of the main TV news
broadcasts, although with very differentiated positions, is falling. In particular, in
the last year, there have been relevant losses in the audiences of the main news
broadcasts (TG1 and TG5), which in the most popular time bracket (evening)
have lost a total of about 5 percentage points, equal to 1 million viewers.
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2012
Table 2.46. Audiences of the main news broadcasts in 2010 and 2011
2010
Average
viewers
(,000)
1,315
1,208
1,282
228
40
Channel
Programme
Time
bracket
Share
(%)
RAI 1
RAI 3
CHANNEL 5
LA 7
Sky TG 24
TG1
TG3
TG5
TG LA 7
Sky TG 24
morning
late morning
morning
morning
morning
26.51
12.34
23.54
4.76
0.88
RAI 1
RAI 2
RAI 3
RAI 3
CHANNEL 5
TG1
TG2
TG3
TGR
TG5
STUDIO
APERTO
TG LA 7
Sky TG 24
daytime
daytime
daytime
daytime
daytime
26.74
18.07
11.90
n.a.
24.29
4,529
2,858
1,806
n.a.
3,901
24.01
18.76
12.65
17.14
21.82
4,257
3,059
2,007
2,943
3,623
daytime
20.93
2,674
19.53
2,554
daytime
daytime
3.66
0.37
536
53
5.70
0.45
1,009
76
TG1
TG2
TG3
TGR
TG4
TG5
STUDIO
APERTO
TG LA 7
Sky TG 24
evening
evening
evening
evening
evening
evening
26.91
9.60
14.38
n.a.
6.42
22.38
5,915
2,311
2,245
n.a.
1,002
4,911
23.66
9.96%
14.70
15.23
6.06
20.11
5,300
2,450
2,344
2,921
977
4,515
evening
10.72
1,351
9.70
1,266
evening
evening
4.98
0.22
1,079
50
9.55
0.32
2,166
55
ITALIA 1
LA 7
Sky TG 24
RAI 1
RAI 2
RAI 3
RAI 3
RETE 4
CHANNEL 5
ITALIA 1
LA 7
Sky TG 24
Share
(%)
2011
Average
viewers
(,000)
1,466
1,308
1,292
249
52
25.57
13.43
22.49
4.86
0.93
Source: processed by Nielsen and Geca (for Agcom) on Auditel data
Free TV
Between the end of 2011 and the beginning of the new year, families with
at least a digital terrestrial receiver in their main home numbered around 22.3
million, with an increase of about 600 thousand units compared to the October
figure. The penetration of digital terrestrial TV has therefore concerned 89.5% of
the total of Italian families. In particular, in 2011, the number of families with a
decoder or an integrated television set increased by approximately 2.8 million.
The increase in the number of television channels available with the changeover
to digital TV, but also the progressive affirmation of the new television product
consumption modes, have expanded the choice of the public, more inclined to
seek contents which correspond more closely to their own specific target of
reference.
In 2011 new free national channels were launched (Table 2.47): in
particular, Mediaset, together with La5, addressed to a female public, now offers
the new Mediaset Italia 2, a theme channel directed at a young male target. The
programme schedule of Italia 2 is in fact composed of TV series, cartoons and
sports events, as well as repeats of certain TV programmes of Italia 1, with
which the network is associated, and it has the particular feature of being
divided into zones, each with a specific theme; one of the themes, worthy of
note, is the U Zone, created by television viewers themselves with their own
118
amateur videos. From an information viewpoint, Mediaset has launched its own
all news channel, TgCom24, which is offered in competition with that of RAI
(RAINews 24) and, in respect of pay TV, that of Sky (SkyTG24).
The Discovery channel has also proposed a new digital terrestrial TV on
the satellite platform of Sky, named DMAX, featuring a programme schedule
dedicated to male viewers composed of reality documentaries which focus on
engines, disasters, nature, crime and lifestyle (so-called factual entertainment).
The new national free theme channels also include the launch, on the part
of the L'Espresso Group, of a new music channel, Radio Capital Tivù: thus, the
group's television offer, which is also composed of the musical channel Deejay
TV and of the information channel Repubblic TV, is expanded.
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2012
Table 2.47. National unencrypted television offer: the main channels
Channel
Analog
ue
Native digital
(DTT, satellite, IP
TV)
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Publisher
Genre
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
RAI
generalist
generalist
generalist
youngsters
culture
sport
sport
information
culture
culture
children
cinema
generalist
children
X
Mediaset
generalist
X
Mediaset
generalist
X
Mediaset
Mediaset
Iris
X
Mediaset
La5
Mediaset Extra
Italia 2 Mediaset
TgCom24
La7
La7D
MTV
MTV Music
Odeon 24
Canale Italia
7Gold
X
X
X
X
X
X
generalist
children
culture/cine
ma
women
generalist
youngsters
information
generalist
women
music
music
generalist
generalist
generalist
Rai 1
Rai 2
Rai 3
Rai 4
Rai 5
Rai Sport 1
Rai Sport 2
Rai News 24
Rai Scuola
Rai Storia
Rai Gulp (also+1)
Rai Movie
Rai Premium
Rai Yoyo
Canale 5 (also +1
and HD)
Italia 1 (also +1 and
HD)
Rete 4 (also +1)
Boing (also +1)
Deejay TV
Repubblica TV
TG Norba 24
Cielo
Real Time (also +1)
DMAX
Nuvolari
K2
Frisbee
Coming Soon
Class News
SportItalia
SportItalia2
SportItalia24
120
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Source:
Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset
Profit Group
Canale Italia
Italia 7 Gold
L’Espresso Publishing
Group
Group
Telenorba
Sky Italia
Discovery
Discovery
SitCom
Switchover
Switchover
Anica
Class
Interactive
Interactive
Interactive
The Authority
music
information
information
generalist
lifestyle
men
cars
children
children
cinema
information
sport
sport
sport
As already observed, in 2011, there was a more marked fall in the
audience of the free generalist channels, accompanied by a move of users
towards theme channels.
According to the data published by Auditel, between September and
October 2011, the 6 generalist networks have lost, in the early evening,
compared to the same period in 2010, a total of 7.7% of the share, equal to
2,371,000 television viewers.
The most consistent loss regarded the two leaders of the generalist TV:
Rai 1 and Canale 5. Rai 1 decreased to a share of 20% (as recently as 2006 it
was at 23%), Canale 5 in autumn 2011 even fell to below 18%. But also Italia 1,
Rete 4 and Rai 2 fell between 4% and 7%. The only exceptions, however, were
Rai 3 and La7.
The decrease in share, as mentioned, was partly re-absorbed by the new
channels of the two main broadcasters. For the Rai and Mediaset channels that
can be used only via digital terrestrial mode, the audience of the two
broadcasters has increased, in fact, by 70% and 118% respectively. As already
illustrated in Table 2.48, in spite of this growth, both Rai and Mediaset have
registered an increase in average audience lower than the total increase in TV
viewing, which represents a fall in the groups' respective share.
From the viewpoint of the economic resources, also this year the
competitive picture of traditional television has not undergone changes of
relevance, as can be seen from the following table. The success of the new
devices and the shift of the audience towards more targeted channels, albeit an
indication of an interesting change on the general panorama of the sector,
nevertheless do not represent elements which can determine a significant
change in the positions of the two main operators, RAI and Mediaset, which
continue to hold a market quota above 85%.
Table 2.48. Free TV - Market shares of the main operators (%)
2010
2011(*)
RAI
45.8
46.3
Mediaset
42.3
41.5
2.6
2.9
Other operators
9.3
9.3
Total
100.0
100.0
HHI concentration index
3,903
3,882
(*)
Estimated values.
The third operator, Telecom Italia Media, although claiming a growing
market share and, as shown, the growing success of its own programme
schedule in terms of audience (above all for the information component),
nevertheless still has a marginal position (2.9%) compared to the crushing
preponderance of those held by Rai and Mediaset.
The competitive picture outlined is reflected in the market concentration
levels, which again this year are significant (about 3,800 points), confirming
their own lasting and structured features, already pointed out in 2010.
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2012
This is the situation in which measures have been adopted to sustain the
smaller operators (mainly local operators) in order to ensure a more pluralistic
balance of the market. As mentioned in the general introduction relative to the
media sector (see paragraph 2.2), the contributions and the direct subsidies
represent the preferred instrument (but not the only one) used now and in the
past in Italy in order to guarantee the satisfaction of the citizens' interest in
pluralist and capillary information also at local level.
However, as already observed in general for all media markets, this
instrument, above all if judged dynamically, does not seem to have produced
appreciable results. In particular, in the case of unencrypted TV, the abovementioned results relative to the small operators, in terms of audience and of
total resources, do not seem to be appreciably linked to the distribution of these
resources, the logic of which does not adequately correspond to the criteria of
selectivity and efficiency. In fact, public contributions, if analysed on a historic
basis, do not appear to have contributed to the determination of a more efficient
and pluralist system (the position of local TVs, in fact, seems to be undergoing a
structural decline).
For that matter, this instrument, used indiscriminately in such a
fragmented market, has had the effect of creating a system which depends on
public aid. Figure 2.25 shows, in fact, that no less than 70% of local TVs receive
direct public contributions (obviously without also counting aid of an indirect
nature), with as much as 90% of the income of some companies deriving from
this.
Figure 2.25. Public contributions as a % of income: local TVs
It is worth considering that in a situation such as today's, which was
already precarious, in which the accounts of local TVs, except for some rare
122
exceptions, are in the red, the Authority estimates that without these
contributions the operating margin of these subjects would by greatly negative,
equal to about 30% of total revenues.
Pay TV
At the end of 2011, pay TV was present in 37% of all homes with a
television set, and in 39% of homes with digital television. The satellite platform
continues to be the first pay TV platform, reaching 53% of pay TV homes, while
digital terrestrial accounts for 41%. The remaining 6% are represented by the
other forms (IPTV, DVB-H, etc.).
Pay TV has been confirmed as the most dynamic of the television sector in
2011, having maintained, unlike advertising, a positive trend with growing
revenues also thanks to the contribution of the new platforms.
In 2011 Sky reached the target of five million subscribed families, equal
to a potential audience of more than 15 million viewers. Of these families, 67%
see the channels and programmes of the platform in high definition mode and
one out of three has the PVR (Personal Video Recorder) technology of MySkyHD.
In 2011, Sky launched Sky Go, a new service which allows for about 20 sports,
football, news and entertainment channels to be viewed in streaming, on iPads
and other new generation tablets. At the end of the year, Sky3D was launched,
the first Italian channel entirely in 3D.
Mediaset Premium, thanks to the strong advertising of its own offers and
to more contained costs, has also gained new subscribers and it has therefore
enjoyed sustained growth in 2011.
With regard to the audience data of the pay channels, the supremacy of
football has been confirmed (Premium Calcio and Sky Sport 1) and the news of
Sky Tg 24 has enjoyed success, in respect of the channels dedicated to the
cinema.
In the competitive context of the pay television market, again in 2011 the
offer available on the satellite platform has had a great success, whereas the
nearest alternative is represented by digital terrestrial television, which is
beginning to be a competitor of some importance. Alternative technologies, such
as DVB-H and IPTV, however, have not achieved appreciable results and they
are used only by a marginal fringe of the public. As already mentioned, in the
near future, however, Smart TV pay offers could establish their position, linked
to the expected spread of connected TV, which could lead the market towards a
more dynamic situation.
In fact, as emerging from Table 2.49, the market continues to be
dominated by Sky which, although its share has decreased compared to
previous years (in 2009 it was equal to 81.5%), it still holds more than 75% of
the market. But in the last year Mediaset's pay offer on digital terrestrial
technology has continued to mark further growth, gaining almost 18% of the
resources of the market.
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2012
Table 2.49. Pay TV - Market shares of the main operators (%)
2010
2011(*)
News Corp. / Sky Italia
79.2
77.4
Mediaset
15.1
17.4
Other operators
5.7
5.2
Total
100.0
100.0
6,542
6,334
(*)
Estimated values.
In the present situation, the level of market concentration of pay TV,
measured by the Herfindahl Hirschman (HHI) index, is extremely high (more
than 6,000 points), even if, in the last two years, there has been an appreciable
fall of about 700 points.
In short, the television markets therefore continue to feature the same
problems already encountered in past years: on the free television market and
on the pay television market, new participants have great difficulty in getting a
foothold, while those already operating, although their own business may
increase, find it difficult to reach the consolidated positions of the historic
operators. In general, both markets seem to suffer from a certain stagnation
(also as regards prices) and also the technological and market changes in
progress, which have already been registered in the past, are not yet able to
have a significant influence on the described situation. In addition to this, the
direct (and indirect) public contributions (see supra) do not seem to have
contributed to promoting a more competitive and pluralist balance, nor do they
correspond to logics of efficiency as regards allocation or dynamics.
2.2.2. Radio
In 2011, the radio sector suffered from the absence of an official system
for registering the radio audience, following the liquidation of Audiradio and after
the suspension of the publication of audience data by the said company.
As already mentioned several times, the absence of any official survey
that can direct the choices of the operators' investments and those of the
broadcasters' programme schedules can have a considerable influence on the
competitive mechanisms which regulate the advertising investment flows and,
therefore, in the last analysis, on the efficiency and the competitive structure of
the radio advertising sales market. Nevertheless, this flaw risks significantly
influencing the pluralistic framework of the communication media and, therefore,
on the level of pluralism of the entire informative system. For this reason, the
Authority, by resolution no. 182/11/CSP, invited the subjects of the radio
compartment to reorganise the audience monitoring system according to the
criteria and principles already laid down by the Authority in resolution no.
85/06/CSP.
In the meantime, in the absence of any universally standardised reliable
audience data, some research companies (such as Eurisko and Istituto Piepoli
124
S.p.A.) have launched their own surveys in order to obtain some more precise
data on radio audiences.
With regard to the characteristics of the radio market, also in respect of
the other communications media, this, as it is known, features a preponderant
reception by mobile devices; this phenomenon directly influences the usage
methods and therefore the peaks of radio listening throughout the course of the
day, which are concentrated in the so-called drive time (7-10 and 16-21), which
consequently influences the broadcasters' editorial programming. In this sense,
radio listening tends to be linked to television viewing, since it tends to be
concentrated at times and places (above all via mobile devices or in the office)
when watching television is impossible. As such, radio traditionally represents a
medium complementary to television, both for users and for advertisers. This
also explains the existence of a certain degree of the integration of the offer,
with the presence of national players which are active both via radio and
television (RAI, Fininvest, L’Espresso Publishing Group).
In the last year, there has been a strong increase in radio listening via
digital media – web, television and mobile devices – Italy being, in Europe, the
country in which the web is used most for listening to or downloading radio
contents and music, and where mobile phones are most used for listening to the
radio65. Radio broadcasting is therefore undergoing development based on the
use of multimedia both with the construction of real television channels and
through the increasingly frequent use of video also on the online platforms.
As can be seen from Table 2.50, in 2011 there were no changes of
relevance in the panorama of the national radio broadcasting offer, which still
features the predominant presence of the large multimedia groups which are
also active in the field of advertising sales. In the radio sector, there are also
independent commercial operators and non-commercial broadcasters which
cover a particular segment of the audience (Associazione Radio Maria and Radio
Radicale).
At local level, there is a multitude of broadcasters which cover larger or
smaller user catchment areas, at times gaining significant audience shares.
65
From the survey promoted by Ofcom, "International Communication Markets Report
2010", it has been found, in fact, that 48% of the Italians interviewed said that they had
used their own home connection for the use or downloading of radio contents, and that
31% listen to the FM radio via mobile phone.
125
2012
Table 2.50. The national radio broadcasting offer
Publisher
Broadcaster
Licensee
Finelco Group (a
shareholder of the RCS
Mediagroup)
RADIO 105, RMC RADIO
MONTECARLO; VIRGIN RADIO
Gruppo Finelco S.p.A.
Group
RADIO CAPITAL, RADIO DEEJAY,
M2O
A. Manzoni & C. S.p.A.
RTL 102.500 hit Radio
RTL 102.5
Openspace Pubblicità S.r.l.
RAI Radiotelevisione
Italiana
RADIOUNO; RADIODUE;
RADIOTRE; ISORADIO;
NOTTURNO ITALIANO
Sipra S.p.A.
Radio Dimensione Suono
RDS 100% GRANDI SUCCESSI
RDS Advertising S.r.l.
Monradio (Mondadori/
Fininvest)
RADIO R101
Mondadori pubblicità
S.p.A.
Radio Italia Group
RADIO ITALIA SOLOMUSICA
ITALIANA
Il Sole 24 Ore
RADIO 24
Il Sole24 Ore S.p.A.
Radio Kiss Kiss
RADIO KISS KISS
Associazione Radio Maria
RADIO MARIA
Production centre
RADIO RADICALE
S.p.A.
S.p.A.
Source: Agcom
In 2011, radio advertising revenues, especially in the first quarter,
underwent strong contraction. The contraction appears partly due to an external
shock, namely that due to the aforementioned cease (precisely at the end of
2010) of radio audience monitoring on the part of Audiradio, but also due to a
series of macroeconomic events that have had a determining influence on the
decision of the companies regarding advertising expenditures. The trend
registered not only goes against the trend of radio performances in recent years,
but it has also involved the radio to a greater extent compared to the trend of
the media sector as a whole. In fact, a dynamic analysis of the market values of
the last six years prior to 2011 shows that advertising revenues from 2005 to
2008 always had a positive trend, while in 2009 there was a slight contraction.
In fact, revenues from advertising increased from 2005 to 2008 by 34.4%, while
between 2008 and 2009 they decreased by 3.4%. In 2010, advertising sales
again had a positive trend, with an increase of 4.3% on the previous year.
During the last year, however, the value of radio advertising decreased by over
6%.
In particular, the division of the resources illustrated in Table 2.51 shows
an almost negligible change in revenues from licence fees (+1.4%), while there
is a strong fall in advertising sales, which nevertheless continue to be by far the
main resource of the sector (about 80%). All together the radio market has
therefore decreased by more than 5%.
126
Table 2.51. Total radio revenues divided according to type
Revenues
(€ mln.)
(*)
Δ2011/201
0 (%)
Incidenc
e on the
total
(2011, in
%)
2010
2011
Licences(**)
99.27
100.62
1.4
14.2
Advertising
598.92
559.55
-6.6
79.1
47.51
47.51
0.0
6.7
745.70
707.69
-5.1
100.0
Grants and subsidies
Total
(*)
Estimated values.
(**)
With regard to the structure of the sector, illustrated in Table 2.52, it must
be noted that in 2011 the first five operators together hold more than half of the
total resources. However, as indicated also by the value of the concentration
index HHI (909 points), the structure is substantially competitive. The main
operator is RAI which, thanks in particular to the financing of the public service
activities from the licence fees, obtains about 22% of the advertising resources,
followed by the L'Espresso Group, with a market share of just under 13%, and
the Finelco Group with 10.4%. While the independent radio broadcasters, RTL
and RDS, hold a share of around 7%. Then there are other operators who hold
marginal shares, below 5%, as well as subjects of a prevalently local nature.
Compared to 2010 almost all operators have sustained a more or less
significant reduction in their revenues. However, this phenomenon, due to the
general contraction of the market, has not made any substantial changes in the
companies' positions.
127
2012
Table 2.52. Radio - Market shares of the main operators (%)
2010
2011(*)
RAI
21.4
21.8
L’Espresso Publishing Group
13.0
12.9
Finelco
10.4
10.4
RDS
7.0
6.8
RTL
7.6
7.2
Mondadori
3.8
4.0
Il Sole 24 ore
2.2
2.4
34.6
34.4
100.0
100.0
894
906
Other operators
Total
(*)
Estimated values.
The above shows that the present economic situation of the sector
features lively competition between the various players, as also shown by the
reduced value of the concentration index, although higher than the previous
year.
However, two possible problems must be noted, which could influence the
competitive conditions and the efficiency of the balance of the radio sector. On
one hand, the presence of advertising agencies linked to the main publishing
groups, which act on diverse communications means and which, especially if
they have significant market power, could exploit the advantage deriving from
this privileged position in order to implement integrated multi-media sales
methods, which could place the independent agencies active in the sector in a
situation of competitive disadvantage. On the other hand, it seems that the
current absence of a radio audience monitoring system could generate
considerable repercussions on the market in question, because of the important
negative effects that it can determine on this media and on its capacity to
attract advertising resources, since the media centres and advertisers need
certain, reliable data in order to plan their advertising campaigns.
Lastly, regarding the effects deriving from the direct grants issued by the
State, the following can be noted. As for the television sector, also in the case of
the radio, this action does not appear to have produced relevant results,
although in this context the position of the local operators seems decidedly more
significant from both the economic viewpoint and as regards the pluralism of the
information. Figure 2.26 also shows that about 60% of the local radios receive
direct contributions (without taking into account indirect contributions), and that
for about one quarter of them such contributions represents more than 30% of
their core business revenues. The Authority estimates, in particular, that for
such subjects the gross operating margin would be very negative (around 20%
of sales) without such public contributions.
128
Figure 2.26. Public contributions as a % of income: local radios
2.2.3. Publishing
General framework
Publishing, as fully recognised, both at national and international level,
has primary importance in guaranteeing the pluralism of information, albeit with
a relevant difference between daily newspapers, which hold a central role in the
information system, and magazines, which are highly varied and which meet
different needs; lastly, electronic publishing and, more in general, the world of
the internet, with all its complexity (see, to this regard, paragraph 2.2.4) is
increasingly the most used means by which citizens gain information.
In recent years, the publishing sector has had to face a transformation
caused by an impetuous technological evolution which, far from reducing its
reach as a means of basic information, has nevertheless concerned the ways in
which its informative function is used, in the new digital context, giving rise to
debate at global level on the role of journalists and on the opportunity of
providing support to the informative media. Such issues regard in particular the
daily newspapers, precisely in virtue of their relevance from the aspect of
pluralism (see resolution no. 555/10/CONS).
In Italy, the sector of Italian publishing has always featured certain
negative elements such as, for example, the low circulation and reading rate,
especially of daily newspapers. This phenomenon has worsened in recent years
because of the spread of new media, in particular the internet, which has
become the privileged medium of the new generations. For that matter,
digitalisation would allow, at least potentially, for overcoming certain structural
129
2012
limits of the sector such as, for example, the need for the capillary distribution
of the printed press while there are problems, often pointed out and still
present, connected with the distribution of such products66, and how to reach
the target of the younger members of the public, who have never become
readers of the printed press.
With reference to the sector as a whole, in 2010 it underwent a strong
contraction, then showed slight signs of recovery at the beginning of 2011, and
again worsened during the course of the year, concluding the period in deficit,
with losses at levels just below those of 2010 (-1.4%), only thanks to the
extremely positive trend of electronic publishing (see Table 2.53).
Table 2.53. Total publishing revenues67(*)
Revenues (€ mln.)
Daily
newspapers(*)
Magazines(*)
Electronic
publishing(**)
TOTAL
Incidence
on the
total
(2011, in
%)
2010
2011(***)
∆
2011/2010
(%)
2,953.93
2,896.49
-1.9
43.4
3,409.15
3,274.33
-4.0
49.1
403.37
6,766.45
501.73
6,672.55
24.4
-1.4
7.5
100.0
(*)
The figure also includes the value of the collateral products that are neither books nor
audio products and which are not included in the SIC estimate.
(**)
The figure includes revenues from the sale of online publishing products and services,
and from advertising of online publishing, excluding directories.
(***)
Estimated values.
In 2011, total revenues from the sector amount to around € 6.7 billion,
showing a decrease on the previous year relative to both daily newspapers (1.9%) and magazines (-4%). Electronic publishing has partially compensated for
such contractions with an increase of 24% in respect of the absolute value, of
just over € 400 million, recorded in 201068.
The most indicative figure representing the transformations that have
66
See Agcm, IC35 – Informative survey on the sector of the daily press, magazines and
multi-media publishing, closure provision of part II of 23 September 2009. In this sense,
for example, “the traditional distribution of the press is, in particular, the sphere which
most needs review, since the alternative forms of the circulation of information redimension the economic relevance of physical distribution, and there is a risk that the
protection of pluralism, on which most of the restrictions which at present limit distribution
depend, may not completely reach its aim” (page 49, § 209).
67
It may be remembered that the data refer to the entire publishing sector (and not to a
sample of main operators) and follow the procedures for evaluating the economic
dimensions of the Integrated Communications Sector (see resolution no. 126/11/CONS).
This fact holds true for all the tables in this paragraph.
68 In this regard, last year's figure for electronic publishing does not include the value
relative to directories published online. The values can therefore be directly compared with
those of previous years.
130
taken place in the entire publishing sector, is that of the decrease in the
incidence of daily publications in favour of electronic publications. In fact, more
daily newspaper readers have abandoned the printed page in favour of the
digital versions of the same products, compared to magazine readers, above all
in the case of magazines which answer needs other than informative needs, in
which case the appeal of the printed version (the graphics, glossy paper, etc.) is
maintained to a greater extent.
Table 2.54. Publishing. Core business revenues
2010
2011(***)
∆2011/2010
(%)
3,193.32
3,148.36
-1.4
Incidence
on the
total
(2011, in
%)
47.2
3,002.24
2,964.42
-1.3
44.4
380.96
369.85
-2.9
5.5
189.92
189.92
0.0
2.9
6,766.45
6,672.55
-1.4
100.0
Revenues (€ mln.)
Copies sold
Advertising
Collateral products
Grants and
subsidies(**)
TOTAL
(*)
(*)
audio products, which are not included in the SIC estimate.
(**)
The figure regards revenues deriving from agreements with public subjects and public
grants. It is supposed that this figure has remained constant in 2011.
(***)
Estimated values.
Analysing the revenues from core business (see Table 2.54), the trend
registered in recent years is confirmed. The lasting reduction in revenues
deriving from the sale of printed publications has been partially slowed down by
the increase in prices, especially of daily newspapers, but in spite of this there
has still been a reduction, albeit limited (-1.4%).
As can be understood from Figure 2.27, the trend of the prices of daily
newspapers until the early years of this century was regularly kept below the
general consumer price index; however, it then increased, in line with the
general index, until 2009, the year in which the prices began to rise more than
the said index. The trend of magazine prices, however, has always been more or
less in line with the general trend of consumer prices, although, until the year
2000, it was slightly above that level, whereas in the last ten years it has
generally tended to be lower.
It is worth noting that the sudden increase in the prices of daily
newspapers coincided with the serious crisis in the publishing market registered
precisely in 2009. This trend reflected the strategy pursued by the publishers
who, during the crisis of the publishing market, reacted by reducing the sale
prices of their advertising spaces and increasing, as mentioned above, the sale
price of the products to the public.
131
2012
Figure 2.27. Price indices: publishing compared to general consumer prices
(1995-2011)
Source: ISTAT
From certain analyses carried out by the Authority, it has been found that
the average cost of advertising space in the publishing sector has fallen
considerably, especially in the last years of the decade, even if, also from this
aspect, it is as well to distinguish between daily newspapers and magazines.
From 2000 to 2010, daily newspapers sustained a constant decline in the
average costs per thousand contacts (PTC), equal to almost 50% over the whole
decade, with a reduction of more than 20% in the last three years alone. The
PTC trend for magazines, however, has followed a highly variable trend:
increasing until 2008, and then drastic contraction in the last three years, with a
reduction equal to around 30%.
Such marked reductions are reflected in the negative dynamics of the
corresponding advertising revenues. Income from advertising has in fact
continued to follow a negative trend (-1.3%; in spite of the increase of more
than 20% in the online component), involving a further shift in the sources of
funding in the publishing sector from advertisers (advertising revenues) to users
(revenues from the sale of copies).
As recorded, in fact, publishers have attempted to maintain their revenues
unchanged by increasing prices to users (readers), with effects on the already
reduced circulation, in a stage of general crisis and in a country already
featuring scarce inclination for reading, consequently worsening even more the
persistently negative trend of average sales (see Figure 2.28 for daily
newspapers). The high and increasing price mix of the sale of publications and
the low and falling prices of advertising space has thus produced negative
effects both on the circulation of daily newspapers in Italy (to the advantage of
media such as private television, at first, and the internet, more recently) and
on the revenues of the publishers themselves69.
69
See E. ARGENTESI AND L. FILISTRUCCHI (2007). “Estimating market power in a two-sided
market: The case of newspapers”, Journal of Applied Econometrics, vol. 22, pag. 12471266.
132
Table 2.55 shows the situation of the publishing sector as a whole and the
division of the main groups operating in the publishing sector, including daily
newspapers, magazines and electronic publishing.
Table 2.55. Publishing. Total revenues per company (%)
2010
2011(*)
RCS Mediagroup
12.8
12.7
L'Espresso Group
11.2
11.5
Arnoldo Mondadori
7.3
7.2
Il Sole 24 ore
4.3
4.8
Caltagirone
3.5
3.3
Monrif
2.9
2.9
Condé Nast
2.6
2.7
Hearst Magazines Italia
1.6
1.6
Cairo
1.4
1.6
Others
52.5
51.8
Total
100.0
100.0
(*)
Estimated values.
The publishing sector structure has not shown any relevant change
compared to the past, continuing to maintain a rather fragmented nature
featuring the presence of a few large publishing groups and a large number of
smaller subjects (as in the sphere of local daily newspapers and specialist
magazines).
There is, therefore, on one hand, a situation that is fairly unaltered over
time, with a certain inertia of market positions linked to brand effects, as well as
to the integrated nature of the large publishing groups, both in a vertical sense
(circulation) and in a diagonal sense (touching all publishing markets and some
other media markets). On the other hand, the sector always maintains a certain
dynamism, with the entry and exit of a plethora of smaller publishers.
Daily newspapers
The daily newspaper offer has not changed much in 2010 (a few new
newspapers have been introduced, of small dimensions and strictly local, while a
few daily newspapers, national dailies, have disappeared70). The most important
elements to be noted are the further decline in the free press and the success of
a few daily newspapers on sale71.
With reference to Italian daily newspapers, in Table 2.56 below the full
70
For example, Il Nuovo Riformista is one of the newspapers that has recently closed
down.
71
Whereas “Il Fatto Quotidiano”, which in 2010 (the first year for which data are available
for the full period, since it started up in September 2009) was placed in 10th position in
terms of circulation, of the daily newspapers on sale.
133
2012
offer is presented, including both national and local newspapers, distinguishing
between general, political, sports and financial newspapers and other specialist
newspapers.
With regard to the circulation of these newspapers, Tables 2.59 and
following give the net circulation of the main daily newspapers in 2010, while
details are given in the Annex to the Annual Report.
134
Table 2.56. Daily newspapers in Italy according to type
Information
Free newspapers
City
DNews
Newspapers on sale
Alto Adige /
Corriere delle
Avvenire
Alpi / Trentino
In Città Verona
Leggo
BresciaOggi
Buongiorno
Campania
Metro
Calabria Ora
Corriere
Corriere (Forlì)
Corriere – the
daily newspaper
of Irpinia
Corriere della
Sera
Corriere di
Bologna
Corriere
Adriatico
Corriere del
giorno (Puglia
and Lucania)
Corriere del
Mezzogiorno
(also Bari and
Puglia)
Corriere del
Trentino
Corriere del
Veneto
Corriere
dell’Alto Adige
Corriere di
Caserta
Corriere di
Como
Corriere
Fiorentino
Corriere
Mercantile
Cronacaqui.it
Cronache di
Napoli
Editoriale Oggi
Foggia Sera
Gazzetta di
Mantova
Gazzetta di
Parma
Gazzetta di
Reggio
Giornale di
Sicilia
Il Centro
Il Cittadino
Il Corriere
Laziale
Il Domani
Il Fatto
Quotidiano
Il Gazzettino
Il Gettone
Il Giornale
Il Giornale
dell’Umbria
Il Giornale di
Calabria
Il Giornale di
Vicenza
Il Giornale
Nuovo della
Toscana
Il Giorno
Il Manifesto
Il Mattino
Il Paese Nuovo
Il Piccolo
Il Quotidiano
del Molise
Il Secolo XIX
Il Tempo
Il Tirreno
Italia Sera
L’Altro fax
L’Arena
L’Eco di Bergamo
Il Nuovo
Corriere (FI)
Il Sannio
Quotidiano
L’Informazione
– Il Domani
Il nuovo
Riformista
Il Quotidiano
(Calabria)
Gazzetta del
Sud
Il Cittadino oggi
Corriere
Nazionale
Il Giornale
dell’Emilia
Romagna
Il Mattino di
Padova
Il Quotidiano
della Basilicata
L’Italiano
L’ordine di
Como
L’Unione Sarda
La Città
quotidiano di
Salerno e
provincia
La Cronaca
La Discussione
La Gazzetta del
Mezzogiorno
La Nuova del
Sud
La Nuova di
Venezia e
Mestre
La Nuova
Ferrara
Il Messaggero
Il Resto del
Carlino
La Nazione
Die Neue
Sudtiroler
Tageszeitung
Giornale di
Bergamo
Dolomiten
Giornale di
Brescia
135
La Nuova
Sardegna
La Prealpina
La Stampa
La Tribuna di
Treviso
La verità
La Voce
Libero
Libertà
Linea
Nuovo Corriere
Barisera
Nuovo
Quotidiano di
Puglia
Quotidiano di
Sicilia
Quotidiano di
Foggia
Specialist
Political newspapers (*)
Cronache di
Democrazia
Liberal
Cristiana
Liberazione
giornale
L’Avanti!
comunista
Financial newspapers
Finanza e
Mercati
-
Il Sole 24 ore
La Provincia
Pavese
La Voce della
Città Taranto
La Provincia
Quotidiano
La Voce di
Mantova
Messaggero
Veneto
Metropolis
Modena Qui
Ottopagine
Polis Quotidiano
Primo piano
Molise
Primorski
dnevnik
Puglia
Quotidiano di
Bari
Rinascita
senza colonne
Trapaniok
Il Socialista Lab
La Padania
La Voce
Repubblicana
La Provincia
Europa
L'Unità
ItaliaOggi
La provincia
(Cremona)
2012
Il Foglio
quotidiano
Il Denaro
L’opinione delle
libertà
MF/Milano
Finanza
Roma
New Bot
L’economia in
gioco
Secolo d'Italia
La Repubblica
La Voce di
Romagna
Nuova Gazzetta
di Caserta
La Sicilia
La voce nuova
Nuova Gazzetta
di Modena
Terra
Ore 12
Sports newspapers
Gazzetta dello
Il Romanista
Tuttosport
sport
Other (trade union newspapers, institutional newspapers, …)
Conquiste del
Gazzetta aste e
L'avvisatore
Scuola e
Impresa artigiana
Scuola Snals
lavoro
appalti pubblici
marittimo
insegnanti
Staffetta
Quotidiana
Source: Agcom
(*)
The “Political” category refers to the daily newspapers that receive contributions either by belonging to a political party or movement or, by being eligible, received
contributions on 31.12.2005 (pursuant to art. 3 par. 10 of Italian Law no. 250/1990 and art. 20, par. 3-ter of Italian Decree Law 223/2006 converted by Italian Law
248/2006) or they belonged to a political movement but transformed into a cooperative before 1 December 2001 (art. 153 of Italian Law 388/2000).
Corriere dello Sport / Stadio
136
The daily printed press, as already mentioned, with reference to the year
2011, has undergone (see Table 2.57) a generalised decrease in income (1.9%), due mainly to the reduction in advertising revenues (more than 4%)
and, to a lesser extent, in collateral revenues (-0.8%), while revenues from the
sales of copies have remained substantially in line with those of 2010, in spite of
the fall in circulation (-2.7%), thanks to the above-mentioned increase in the
average sale price.
Table 2.57. Daily publishing - Core business revenues
Revenues (€ mln.)
2010
2011(***)
∆
2011/201
0 (%)
Copies sold
1,252.53
1,254.13
0.1
Incidenc
e on the
total
(2011, in
%)
43.3
Advertising
1,410.80
1,353.06
-4.1
46.7
153.82
152.52
-0.8
5.3
136.78
136.78
0.0
4.7
2,953.93
2,896.49
-1.9
100.0
Collateral products(*)
Grants and
subsidies(**)
TOTAL
(*)
(**)
(***)
Estimated values.
As can be seen, in fact, from Figure 2.28, in 2011, the fall in the average
sales of printed daily newspapers continued, with structural and lasting aspects,
in spite of the fact that in the second part of the year72, the number of daily
newspaper readers increased. For that matter, the type of competition in the
publishing field does not particularly regard the price, which confirms the
findings of the Antitrust Authority during a recent survey on the publishing
sector73.
72
According to the FIEG (the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers), the increase
seems due to the need for compression caused by the crisis and the Government's
consequent corrective manoeuvres. See La Stampa in Italia 2009 – 2011 and Audipress
(2011).
73
Agcm, IC35 – Informative survey on the sector of the daily press, magazines and multimedia publishing, closure provision of part I of 12 July 2007. In this sense, for example,
“in Italy there is a tendency towards the standardisation of the prices of the main daily
newspapers, both in value and in dynamics, in spite of the fact that the price of daily
newspapers was liberalised by Italian Law no. 67/1987” and “The absence of any incisive
price competition on the Italian market of daily newspapers is confirmed by a comparative
analysis of the prices of the first ten daily newspapers sold in the main European Union
countries” (page 7, § 39-40).
137
2012
Figure 2.28. Daily newspapers - Average daily newspaper sales (1995 2011)
Source: FIEG, La stampa in Italia 2009-2011, April 2012.
With regard to profit from business operations, it can be noted74 that the
gross operating margin of the main daily newspaper publishers, although
remaining positive, after the partial recovery in 2010, has fallen again in 2011,
showing a fragility of the sector that has been progressively accentuated in
recent years, notwithstanding the measures adopted relative to costs and the
efforts made to face the transformation of the information system in favour of
the digital media.
In recent years, in the United States, the first country hit by the crisis,
daily newspapers have lost their position as the centre of the network of social
relations, which are moving to the virtual communities75, as fully described by
the recent analyses of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in
Journalism76.
Also in Italy, the press was the first sector which had to face the digital
revolution. The major publishing groups have diversified their own digital
information portfolio (websites, digital versions of the printed newspapers,
specific products for tablets) to increase the possibility of the sale of contents
and to explore new forms of advertising.
Electronic publishing is therefore the only compartment which has
registered constant growth, which has compensated, even if only in part, the
crisis that has hit the printed daily newspapers. The first investments in digital
products, as a reaction to the crisis, have produced important, albeit not
decisive, results.
74
FIEG, “La Stampa in Italia 2009 - 2011”, April 2012.
In Italy there is a similar phenomenon and the average time spent on Facebook is equal
to about fourteen times the average time spent on the first online newspaper.
76
See in particular, The State of The News Media, 2011.
75
138
A particular feature in the case of Italy, in fact, is the use of the web
which is increasingly more news oriented than on an international level, with an
increase in the position of many Italian daily newspaper sites from 2009 to
2011, and with an increase of traffic indicators which represents growth of more
than 40% in single monthly visits, equal to an increase of approximately 3% of
internet users, and of 4% in average monthly consumption per user77. The
online newspapers have therefore continued to demonstrate positive dynamics,
both in terms of users and of advertising revenues (see paragraph 2.4). In this
regard, it may be noted that the increase rate of online daily newspaper readers
on an average day in the period from December 2010 – December 2011 was
higher than the increase rate of active users on an average day (equal to 7.8%
and 5.5% respectively)78. Furthermore, the main editors offer, together with the
hard-copy product and the website, digital versions available on various devices
(such as smartphones and tablets), which, precisely during 2011, have shown
high growth.
From a first analysis carried out by the Authority on a sample of the main
daily newspaper publishers, it was found that in 2011 the daily copies sold in
digital version amounted to more than 21 million and more than 26 million were
circulated.
However, these results have not been completely translated into economic
terms, considering that the revenues deriving from electronic publishing have
not yet reached 10% of total revenues. For that matter, it can be noted that the
structure of daily newspaper revenues is still anchored to the old system linked
to the hard-copy production chain, and still strongly dependent on public
contributions which, as observed later, do not seem to effectively respond to
their purpose.
With regard to the analysis of the market framework, the following table
gives the main shares of the publishing groups. As a preliminary matter, it may
be noted that the said market is not very concentrated, with an HHI index of
below 900 and substantially stable. The analysis of the single shares of the
operators does not seem changed very much either, with slight changes
sometimes increasing and other times decreasing. The two major operators
(L’Espresso Publishing Group and RCS) continue to maintain a position of
leadership, while the other operators follow with shares below 10%. The two
major publishing groups also have a rich portfolio of products, both national and
local, both general newspapers and specialist publications.
Table 2.58. Daily publications - Market shares of the main publishing groups (%)
2010
19.3
17.3
7.9
6.6
5.9
5.6
2.5
34.2
100.0
884
L'Espresso Group
RCS Mediagroup
Caltagirone
Monrif
Il Sole 24 Ore
La Stampa Publishing House
Corriere dello Sport
Others
Total
(*)
Estimated values.
77
78
2011(*)
19.7
17.1
7.4
6.5
6.1%
5.6
2.5
34.4
100.0
886
Audiweb data, Internet ranking.
FIEG, “La Stampa in Italia 2009 - 2011”, April 2012.
139
2012
The Table 2.59 below shows the position of the main operators in terms of
volumes (referred to the year 2010), i.e. the circulation of the group's
newspapers in respect of Italian newspapers as a whole. In particular, placing
the corporate groups in order according to circulation, slight differences emerge
in the positioning considered on the basis of publishing revenues. In particular,
RCS has a 17.5% share which places it, in this context, in first place, exceeding
the L’Espresso Publishing Group by 3 points; Caltagirone, with an estimated
10% calculated on volumes is decidedly higher than its position in terms of sales
(6.6%), and is confirmed as third in the classification; the other operators have
achieved shares decidedly lower than 10%.
Table 2.59. Daily publications - market shares in terms of volumes
(2010).
Group of
reference
Subject
RCS daily
newspapers
City Italia
RCS
City Milano
S.p.A.
Editoriale
Corriere di
Bologna
S.p.A.
Editoriale
Fiorentina
S.p.A.
Editoriale
Veneto S.p.A.
GELE
Name of
publication
Copies
distribute
d
Copies
sold
No.
%
Copies
distributed
524,322,202
17.5
423,144,692
1,387,347
308,893,62
3
223,878,390
7.5
173,869,628
489,774
170,628,389
168,712,145
5.6
119,754,188
334,509
118,071,455
3,929,000
0.1
3,929,000
18,190
City Bologna
5,728,000
0.2
5,728,000
26,642
City Firenze
5,739,950
0.2
5,739,950
26,697
City Genova
3,765,000
0.1
3,765,000
17,512
City Napoli
9,659,000
0.3
9,659,000
44,718
City Roma
Corriere della
Sera
Gazzetta dello
Sport
City Bari
27,100,000
0.9
27,100,000
126,047
City Verona
2,187,628
0.1
2,187,628
10,175
City Torino
11,364,900
0.4
11,364,900
52,860
City Milano
33,495,878
1.1
33,495,878
155,795
Corriere di
Bologna
5,298,540
0.2
4,528,317
14,847
3,802,017
Corriere
Fiorentino
7,813,381
0.3
7,484,868
22,014
5,383,928
15,650,390
0.5
14,508,335
47,568
11,007,834
402,495,991
13.5
315,363,539
962,173
311,903,64
4
210,144,544
7.0
160,576,727
448,538
159,681,727
24,628,830
0.8
20,702,079
57,827
20,418,703
Corriere del
Veneto
Gruppo
editoriale
L'Espresso
S.p.A.
La Repubblica
Editoriale la
La Nuova
140
Circulation
Group of
reference
Subject
Nuova
Sardegna
S.p.A.
Editoriale
FVG Società
per Azioni
Finegil
Editoriale
S.p.A.
S.E.T.A.
Società
editrice
tipografica
atesina S.p.A
Il
messaggero
S.p.A.
Leggo S.p.A.
Caltagiron
e
Il Gazzettino
Il mattino
S.p.A.
Corriere
Adriatico
S.p.A.
Quotidiano di
Puglia S.p.A.
Name of
publication
Circulation
Copies
distribute
d
Copies
sold
No.
%
Copies
distributed
17,861,912
0.6
15,229,694
49,447
15,051,465
2,820,355
0.1
2,382,208
47,644
2,351,141
Il Piccolo
Piccolo del
Lunedì
Gazzetta di
Mantova
Nuova Gazzetta
di Modena
Gazzetta di
Reggio
La Nuova
Ferrara
La Provincia
Pavese
13,944,105
0.5
11,374,436
36,930
11,225,191
1,923,750
0.1
1,636,519
32,730
1,612,048
12,934,073
0.4
11,246,729
31,415
11,115,918
4,826,056
0.2
3,609,195
10,082
3,586,117
5,772,048
0.2
4,350,680
12,153
4,471,372
4,690,821
0.2
3,597,354
10,048
3,551,984
9,225,759
0.3
7,209,834
20,196
7,063,028
Il Centro
La Città - daily
newspaper of
Salerno and
the Province
Il Mattino di
Padova
La Tribuna di
Treviso
La Nuova di
Venezia e
Mestre
11,546,788
0.4
8,837,229
24,685
8,598,159
4,286,370
0.1
2,936,340
8,202
2,840,432
13,341,314
0.4
11,068,935
30,919
10,941,763
8,287,206
0.3
6,755,343
18,870
6,668,362
5,850,883
0.2
4,358,275
12,174
4,225,884
Il Tirreno
34,980,957
1.2
27,511,830
76,849
26,896,763
Alto
Adige/Corriere
delle Alpi /
Trentino
15,430,220
0.5
11,980,132
33,464
11,603,587
303,157,686
10.1
252,459,448
886,049
130,623,49
3
96,277,752
3.2
68,676,524
192,912
66,391,884
115,198,291
3.9
115,198,291
500,862
Il Gazzettino
37,376,775
1.2
28,504,562
79,622
25,917,176
Il Mattino
36,704,802
1.2
26,627,978
74,380
25,357,207
8,629,751
0.3
6,452,041
18,022
6,173,200
8,969,615
0.3
6,999,352
19,551
6,784,026
Sardegna
Messaggero
Veneto
Messaggero del
Lunedì
Il Messaggero
Leggo
Corriere
Adriatico
Nuovo
Quotidiano di
141
Group of
reference
Subject
Name of
publication
Circulation
2012
Copies
distribute
d
Copies
sold
No.
%
Copies
distributed
700
-
700
700
0
Puglia
Quotidiano di
Brindisi, Lecce
e Taranto
Monrif
Il Sole 24
Ore
Other
operators
Poligrafici
Editoriale
S.p.A.
153,852,252
5.1
Il Resto del
Carlino
66,902,362
2.2
52,253,157
146,367
49,009,792
La Nazione
55,578,476
1.9
41,700,542
116,808
40,143,664
Il Giorno
31,371,414
1.1
20,775,810
58,196
19,614,134
119,719,825
4.0
95,960,185
268,045
50,015,936
49.7
1,061,625,459
3,457,247
804,006,754
100
1,208,741,95
7
4,048,486
830,347,46
2
Il Sole 24 Ore
Il Sole 24 Ore
S.p.A.
1,488,501,00
8
2,992,048,96
4
TOTAL
It must also be specified that the Authority has already had occasion to
state79, that for the daily newspapers the local vocation is highly important.
Therefore, if at national level the market of daily newspapers is not very
concentrated, at local level the circulation of these newspapers could, in some
specific cases, be more polarised, resulting in a higher level of concentration
than that indicated by an analysis carried out at national level.
In addition to this, measures in support of the smaller subjects are
adopted in order to guarantee the protection of pluralism and to ensure
satisfaction of the interests of citizens interested in pluralist and capillary
information, also at local level (but not only).
As already shown for the other markets, this tool, however, does not
seem to achieve the purpose for which it has been introduced. In this regard, it
must be noted that studies have been carried out, also at international level, to
analyse the effectiveness of financial aid granted to the press, aimed at
guaranteeing the qualitative level and the pluralism of the information. Possible
counterproductive effects have even been encountered80, since not only does
the financial support not reflect users' preferences but it does not necessarily
translate into a benefit for readers, but it can result in a decrease in the quality
level.
In Italy, the evidence shows first of all that the distribution of the
resources is not reflected in the circulation figures of the newspapers, as clearly
indicated in Figure 2.29. In fact, while there are a small number of daily
newspaper publishers with high circulation and low grants (the so-called Market
Zone), there is a plethora of subjects with very low circulation among the public
which receive very high grants (the Subsidised Zone). In short, while the
79
See resolution no. 555/10/CONS.
M.A. Leroch and C. M. Wellbrock, “Saving newspapers with public grants – The effects of
press subsidies on the provision of journalistic quality”. Information Economics and Policy
23, pgg. 281-286, 2011.
80
142
successful newspaper publishers manage to stay on the market and to circulate
their products among the public without (or with very little) financial aid, there
are a great many subjects which receive substantial public funding without any
reflection on the circulation of their newspapers among citizens. This takes on
particular importance if considered historically.
Figure 2.29. Grants received and circulation of publications
For that matter, the indication that it is an important distortion of the
market dynamics is confirmed by Figure 2.30, which shows that over 60% of
daily newspapers receive public contributions (for that matter, analysed as
described previously, only direct contributions, see paragraph 2.2); the figure
that appears to be even more worrying is that about half of the publishers
receive contributions that represent more than 20% of their income and for
almost 30% the contribution is more than 50% of their income, with peak
companies for which the contribution is as much as 80% of their core business
income.
143
2012
Figure 2.30. Public contributions as a % of income: daily newspaper publishers
Contributions to publishing are of various kinds, issued to linguistic
minorities, to daily papers published and circulated abroad, to publications
produced by journalist cooperatives, etc. The more relevant categories include
grants issued to the newspapers of political parties or movements, or to the
publishers of newspapers or magazines of political parties that have opted to
become cooperatives. Although the underlying reason for such contributions can
be understood, it seems that the use of this instrument has been a major cause
of distortion and has not resulted in fostering greater pluralism.
To confirm the above, with regard to the demand for information, it has
clearly come to light81 (within the sphere of the Observatory on the consumption
of information means, see paragraphs 3.2.1 and 3.2.1) that the most important
daily publications are those which give generalised news (both national and
local), while the political publications (understood, as already mentioned, in the
wider sense), which, for that matter, are the major beneficiaries of public
funding, are scarcely followed by the public (only 1% of Italian citizens read this
kind of newspaper).
81
Resolution no. 555/10/CONS.
144
Figure 2.31. Daily publications - Readers per type of daily publications 2010
(%)
Source: Agcom
In conclusion, the daily newspaper market has, on one hand, barriers to
entry and a low concentration level. On the other, a certain stability of the
market positions can be seen and lively competition entirely on the advertising
side and not in respect of consumers. In this situation, public subsidies do not
seem to represent either an efficient tool to guarantee pluralism of the
information, nor any mechanism aimed at satisfying minimum levels of
allocation efficiency.
Magazines
Magazine publishing features great differentiation in the product, to satisfy
a wide range of readers' interests, varying from information to entertainment,
for in-depth information on free-time activities and on professional activities. In
parallel, therefore, because of its high segmentation, it is an interesting market
for advertising investors seeking a specific target of consumers, especially for
the types of merchandise for which the press is still the most efficient and
suitable means to guarantee the success of an advertising campaign (such as
fashion and luxury objects, for example). Because of its varied nature it is also a
complex sector which contains many sub-divisions. In this regard, it should be
noted that the division between the two sides (readers/ advertisers) can also
change significantly according to the type of publication, contributing to
reinforce the differentiation of magazines according to type. In particular, it can
be noted that income deriving from readers represents the main income for
magazines published in series (so-called "collectable" publications), which can
145
2012
regard various subjects (for example, practical manuals for cooking or do-ityourself, language courses, series dedicated to children or youngsters, etc.), the
sale of which is often linked to the marketing of collateral products (videos, CDROMs, DVDs, models to be assembled, etc.). Vice versa, advertising income
represents the prevalent source of revenue for the publishers of all those
magazines (for example, magazines for women, for men, on fashion) in which
the presentation of the advertising content is synergistically linked to the
editorial contents of the articles.
With regard to the type of product sold, advertising in magazines is less
closely linked to the multi-media than that of daily newspapers, since magazines
are generally used to promote products whose features are particularly suitable
to the time and the way in which the type of magazine is used, with the effect
that the sizes of the audiences of sites linked to magazines have at the moment
a much more limited importance than those of daily newspapers.
With regard to the economic trend, the market has undergone further
contraction, equal to 4%, with a total value, in 2011, of just under € 3.3 billion
(see Table 2.60). The fall occurs in a trend which has not only the economic
nature but also the structural nature of the crisis in progress in respect of the
magazine market and which regards both general and specialist magazines.
The analysis of core business revenues has shown, compared to the
previous year, a similar reduction in the sale of copies (-5%) and in advertising
revenues (-2.6%), while the decline of collateral products remains at high levels
(-4.3%).
Table 2.60. Magazine publishing - Core business revenues
2010
2011(***)
∆
2011/201
0 (%)
1,795.41
1,351.88
1,705.28
1,317.01
-5.0%
-2.6%
Incidenc
e on the
total
(2011)
52.1%
40.2%
227.15
217.33
-4.3%
6.6%
34.71
34.71
0.0%
1.1
3,409.15
3,274.33
-4.0%
100.0%
Revenues (€ mln.)
Copies sold
Advertising
Collateral products(*)
Grants and subsidies
TOTAL
(**)
(*)
(**)
(***)
Estimated values.
146
Because of the very varied nature of the sector, the result, as already
mentioned, is the outcome of highly diversified dynamics, the expression of very
different contexts, the trends of which reflect differently the impact of the
variables and of the external factors, to the point of registering, in some cases,
completely opposite economic situations.
Some sector studies82 have revealed certain features of specific segments,
which are nevertheless internally differentiated. For example, a general decrease
has been recorded in the sales of specialist publications, consequent to which,
within the sphere of the analysis of sales according to class, many companies
fall into a lower bracket. The publishers which seem to have resisted the crisis
better are those of medium dimensions and, in general, an important decrease
in advertising revenues has been registered (which, for many publications
addressed to the professional market, is the main component of their income)
and a more limited reduction in revenues from circulation.
Also from this viewpoint, it must be noted that the fall of advertising space
in magazines appears to be of a structural nature. In fact, advertising in
magazines increased significantly until 2008, but then fell drastically, by almost
30%, in three years (2009-2011).
On the offer side, the market of advertising space in magazines features
twelve main operators (Table 2.61) which collect approximately 60% of the total
resources of a large number of smaller publishers which satisfy market niches
(of both a geographic nature and, above all, in respect of content).
82
ANES, “4° Osservatorio Economico Anes”, December 2011.
147
2012
Table 2.61. Main market operators
Group
Advertising broker
Main magazines and publishers
Fininvest/Mondadori
Mondadori Pubblicità
S.p.A.
Panorama, Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni,
Grazia, Donna Moderna, Chi, Flair;
Focus, etc.
RCS Mediagroup
RCS Pubblicità S.p.A.
Oggi, Visto, Novella 2000,
Amica, Max, Dove, etc.
Condè Nast
Group
Hachette
Hachette Rusconi
Pubblicità S.p.A.
Il Sole 24 Ore
Division within the
holding.
Cairo Communication
Cairo Pubblicità S.p.A.
Tecniche Nuove
Division within the
company
Editoriale Domus
Division within the
company
Class
Class Pubblicità S.p.A.,
Classpi Digital S.p.A.
Terra Nova Editore
Division within the
company
SEGE
Tre Pi Pubblicità S.r.l.
Astra,
Vogue, Glamour, CQ, Traveller, AD,
Wired, Vanity Fair, etc.
L’Espresso,
National
Geographic
Italia, Mente & Cervello, Limes,
MicroMega, Le Guide dell’Espresso,
etc.
Elle,
Elle
Decor
Italia,
Gente
Enigmista, Gente, Gioia, Elle Spose,
etc.
Agrisole – Il Sole 24 Ore, Guida al
Diritto, La Settimana Fiscale, Il Sole
24 Ore Lombardia, etc.
Airone, Antiquariato, Arte, Bell’Italia,
Bell’Europa, In Viaggio, Diva e Donna,
Settimanale Dipiù, etc.
Cucina Naturale, Il Dentista Moderno,
GT- Il Giornale Termoidraulico, etc.
Quattroruote, Dueruote, Quattroruote
Vendo & Compro, Ruote classiche,
Top Gear, etc.
Class, Case & Country, Gentleman,
Campus, Capital, Patrimoni, Global
Finance, MMF Magazine, etc.
Solocase, Solocase Ed. Milano e
Lombardia, Casa Annunci Ti Trova
Casa, etc.
Porta Portese, Click. Up For It, Porta
Portese News, etc.
In this phase of recession, the market structure is hardly concentrated, as
shown by the value of the HHI index (around 400, one of the lowest of all media
types), although there is always a strong presence of the large publishing
groups and a conspicuous number of medium and small operators (see Table
2.62).
The market structure therefore shows that there is a fair level of
competition in magazine publishing. However, because of the wide horizontal
diversification which, as mentioned, features the magazine publishing field,
some operators could hold, at antitrust level, positions of greater economic
strength in some specific market segments.
From the point of view of the market shares, leadership is held by
Mondadori with 14%, followed by RCS Mediagroup, Condè Nast, L’Espresso,
Hearst and Cairo.
148
Table 2.62. Magazines publishing - Market shares of the main publishing
groups (%)
2010
2011(*)
Mondadori
14.2%
14.0%
RCS Mediagroup
9.0%
8.7%
Condè Nast
4.9%
5.1%
L'Espresso Group
4.3%
4.4%
Hearst Magazines Italia
3.1%
3.3%
Cairo
2.7%
3.2%
De Agostini
2.4%
2.4%
Il Sole 24 Ore
2.7%
2.5%
Others
55.4%
55.3%
Total
100.0%
100.0%
409
401
(*)
Estimated values.
The existence of competitive dynamics is confirmed by the reduced
barriers to entry to the market, on which new low price magazines continue to
appear and which have reached significant shares as regards both circulation
and advertising83.
2.2.4. The Internet
General framework
In March 2010 the European Commission launched the "Europe 2020"
strategy, with the intention of overcoming the crisis and preparing the European
economy for the challenges of the next decade. In this sphere, with the adoption
of the European Digital Agenda84, the Commission aims to establish the key role
of information and communications technologies, planning to achieve ambitious
results by 2020. The Agenda intends to trace the path for exploiting in the best
way the social and economic potential of this sector and, in particular, of the
internet, which represents the essential support of the social-economic activities.
According to the general opinion, reaching the targets of the Agenda will
stimulate innovation and economic growth and will improve the everyday life of
citizens and of companies. The spread of information and communication
technologies is considered at the basis of recovery of productivity to improve the
international competitiveness of a country and to create new qualified jobs. In
fact, the Commission has identified seven85 main obstacles to development,
83
See Agcm, IC35 – Informative survey on the sector of the daily press, magazines and
multi-media publishing, closure provision of part I of 12 July 2007, § 42.
84
European Commission, A Digital Agenda for Europe - COM (2010) 245.
85
Fragmentation of the digital markets, lack of inter-operability, increased computer crime
149
2012
from the analysis of which it can be seen that Europe is behind its industrialised
partners86. The Member States, by the adoption of a National Digital Agenda,
are required to identify and concretely follow the steps which will allow them to
reach the said targets.
In respect of the set targets, and certain initial conditions, Italy shows
signs of delay also relative to other European economies, in spite of the fact that
progress continues relative to some aspects87.
Particularly regarding the internet, it may be noted that according to the
Audiweb data, access to the internet continues to show constant growth rates
with an increase of 6.9% compared to the previous year: home connections
increase (+8%), but above all those of other places, and especially connections
with mobile devices (+55.4%). In parallel, active users in the month of February
2012 number 27.7 million, with growth of 9.2% compared to the same month of
the previous year, maintaining a certain gender differentiation (55% men, 45%
women).
The online audience on an average day shows growth of 7.3%, with 13.8
million active users who have consulted an average of 166 pages per person,
connected for 1 hour 26 minutes. On an average day there are more people
online in the 35-54 year age group (6.6 million) followed by those of the 25-34
year age group (2.6 million).
Table 2.63. Use of the internet in Italy
Online audience
27,695
23,156
∆
2012/2011
11.6%
13,760
11,307
11.3%
Jan-12
Active users in the month (000)
Active users on an average day
(000)
Jan-11
Source: Audiweb
It can be noted, observing the data on the use of the medium in the
different time brackets of an average day, that not only is there constant activity
throughout the day, but there is a peak in the audience between 6.00 and 9.00
pm, with 7.5 million users online, which then descends to 5.5 million users
between 9.00 pm and midnight, the time bracket in which major online activity
and risk of a decrease of faith in the networks, insufficient research and innovations, lack
of digital literacy and computer skills, missed opportunities in responding to the problems
of society.
86
"The amount of music at present downloaded in the United States is four times greater
than the EU, which has fragmented markets and a shortage of content that can be
downloaded legally. 30% of Europeans have never used the internet, the penetration rate
of the high speed optic fibre networks is only 1% in Europe, against 12% in Japan and
15% in South Korea, and lastly the expenditure intended by the EU for research and
development in the TIC sector is only 40% of the expenditure of the USA”. European
Commission, A Digital Agenda for Europe - COM (2010) 245.
87
For example "Italy has one of the highest number of "digital illiterates" (defined as the
number of citizens who have never used the internet) in Europe. The European average is
20%, while in Italy, according to Eurostat, the percentage is 40% in the Report to the
Government on liberalisation and growth: A digital agenda for Italy, AGCOM (January
2012).
150
is registered in terms of both time (36 minutes) and pages visited per person
(68). In addition to this, the types of sites most visited are the search engines,
the social networks and the portals, while those with major growth are:
videos/films, tourist and travel information, coupon and discount sites, and
those giving weather forecasts. The overall examination of these data seems to
confirm that the use of the internet is mainly concentrated on research, the
exchange of information, communications through the social networks and
entertainment; while there is low use of the internet for productive purposes.
Electronic banking is not greatly developed, the use of e-banking is limited, and
the small and medium sized Italian companies (i.e. the major part of the
national production system) use the internet very little for e-commerce or for
electronic invoicing.
Certain particular features in the access modes and in the use of the
digital media and of the internet in particular are even more relevant. In fact,
although Italy still has one of the lowest penetration rates of the advanced
countries, it is one of the markets of major penetration of smartphones and it is
one of the first countries of the world for use of the social media.
It is estimated that almost ten million individuals have access to the
internet from a mobile device (mobile phone/smartphone/tablet) and the
activities carried out with such devices are: navigating on the internet,
sending/receiving e-mail, consulting search engines and accessing the social
networks.
There are several different social networks. Some are generalist like
Facebook, used for sharing information, some regard specific subjects, like
MySpace which allows for more vertical and specialist collective discussion,
social networks like Twitter which allow for the easy and continuous updating of
information or, lastly, those based on geo-satellite localisation, like Foursquare.
The increase in the popularity of the social networks in general, and of
Facebook in particular, is a feature of the most recent evolution of the web,
leading to modifications in behaviour, including social and political behaviour88,
with evident repercussions also for advertising.
It is a global phenomenon, since the social networks concern the majority
of internet users in every country and account for most of the time they spend
on line. For that matter, this phenomenon is undergoing fast and continuous
growth with strong influence, for example, on consumers' purchasing decisions.
Also in Italy the phenomenon has the same importance, in spite of the reduced
extension of access to the internet. 67.8% of Italians are familiar with at least
one of the best known social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, and
Skype). This percentage represents 33.5 million people, showing an increase on
the 32.9 million people in 200989. In Italy users spend about one third (31%) of
their time online visiting the social networks. The categories and places
dedicated to social communities, entertainment and all organisations based on
collectivity and sharing, are growing at double-figure rates. Information is also
extending, creating "places" for online sharing, transforming the way of
88
Alec Ross, Advisor for Innovation and Technology at the USA Department of State, in
the Office of the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, states that the social media reinforce
democracy and he has declared that the Media organisations must “adapt to the digital
reality or die a slow death”. He adds that both in the case of the government and the
Media “the 21st century is a very bad period for being a control freak”.
89
Censis, “IX Rapporto Censis/Ucsi sulla comunicazione. I media personali nell’era
digitale”, 2011.
151
2012
conceiving, circulating and consuming news, as regards both the journalisticpublishing aspect90 and that of the advertising field.
Precisely the evolution of the different types of web services illustrates the
swiftness of the speed of the evolution in progress. For example, although blogs
were the first expression of internet users' desire to communicate and they were
often associated with the social dimension and the first signs of the social
networks, they have now been completely overtaken by these latter91.
In 2011, the penetration of the social media in Italy equals 86% of web
users and, while 78% of navigators obtain information online (20.7 million
users), 87% (23 million users) use the internet for entertainment92.
The evolution in progress implies the affirmation prevalently of the
companies born on the web, although operators from other sectors are
consolidating their positions.
Like other communication means, the internet represents a market
context with two facets and, given the complex nature of the sector, it is worth
considering both sides of the market.
The side of the users
In the last decade - years which some have defined as "revolutionary" for
the entire universe of the media and for the use of the media on the part of
individuals in their daily lives - there has been a generalised increase in the use
of all the media now available to people93. By and large, compared to ten years
ago, today more people use - for that matter more frequently - a larger number
of media. In 2006 only 29% of the Italian population had familiarity with
computer and telecommunication technologies, while in 2011 this figure is
almost 50%.
Firstly, as already shown by the market surveys of the SIC94, with regard
to users, no substitution phenomenon can be seen between the internet and the
other communication platforms. The internet is a new medium, distinguished by
a specific type of user. Its success with the public obviously has deep impact on
the use of other mass communication means, as has happened in the past for all
the media (e.g. the population of television produced significant effects on the
use of the radio). More than a substitution phenomenon between products
(linked to changes in the relative prices), a gradual process of the partial
90
Instruments coming from the social networks, such as Facebook's "Like", which allow for
interaction with readers as well as the sharing of news, are used with increasing
frequency, also on the part of the daily newspapers, and, if associated with the Creative
Commons licence, they allow for the online circulation of articles taken from the
newspapers.
91
In this sense, it is significant that Splinder, one of the major blog platforms in the Italian
language, which also offers multi-media and instant messaging functions (a kind of half
way service between blogging and social networking), which was among the first 40 sites
in terms of audience just two years ago, fell to ninetieth position in November 2011 and
was closed on 31 January 2012. Some blog platforms, like Google's Blogger, have
nevertheless maintained their positions, but in such cases the trend seems to be due more
to the integration with other services (such as the integration with Google's services)
rather than the success of the blogs in themselves.
92
UPA, Tableau de Bord no. 15, July 2011.
93
Censis, “VIII Rapporto Censis/Ucsi sulla comunicazione. I media tra crisi e
metamorfosi”, 2010; Censis, “IX Rapporto Censis/Ucsi sulla comunicazione. I media
personali nell'era digitale”, 2011.
94
Resolution no. 555/10/CONS.
152
substitution of the other media is in progress (at the moment, that of the
printed word, in particular) with the internet, typical of the development phases
of a new means of mass communication.
From the middle of the last decade, there has been unrelenting growth in
the number of digital users, mainly to the detriment of readers (which have
fallen to 23.3% in 2011), while the number of audio-visual users has remained
practically stable (28.7% in 2011). However, the use of television has also
undergone change, moving, to a certain extent, towards the customisation of
programme scheduling.
But the sector most influenced by the advent of the new technologies is
the press, without doubt, and in particular the daily press. The other media,
which also allow for simultaneous use, like radio and television, have felt the
"web revolution" less. On the other hand, it must be considered that the internet
is a platform on which all the media converge and interactions are inevitable.
Users have discovered new ways of using the classic media, not only reading the
news on line, but also "re-viewing" television contents or discovering new
contents95. The IX Censis/Ucsi report on communications states that, regardless
of the use of television, 12.3% of the population visit the internet sites of the
television broadcasters to follow the chosen programmes, overcoming the
restrictions of the programme schedule, 22.7% use YouTube96, and 17.5%
follow programmes downloaded via the web by other people. In addition, it is
pointed out that the creation of new products, specific to the web (such as, for
example, the webseries) and new formats, with more direct language, also
produced by non-professionals, featuring a completely different use, which
combine content with interaction offered precisely by the internet, and which
depends on the potential of the web community.
This evidence again reinforces the consideration that the internet
represents a sphere apart from the other media. Even when data, information
and contents of the traditional media are used, the way of using and of
managing the offer take on particular features specific to the network, which
often elude the classic publishers.
In spite of the fact that the operators of the traditional media are
attempting to adapt to the new world of communications, it may be noted that
the first sites for single users do not include those of the classic publishers, but
such positions are the prerogative of the search engines, the social networks
and the portals, with an evident supremacy of the second. In particular, the
consolidation of Facebook can be noted, as the second site for single users (after
Google, with a penetration of more than 90%) and with 78% of active users
95
In 2011 a television type programme was produced in Italy, entitled Servizio Pubblico,
broadcast via certain local televisions stations and via the internet, through a dedicated
site and through other sites of online magazines. The experiment achieved a noteworthy
result in terms of contracts registered in the streaming flow to the dedicated site during
every programme (an average of 2 million during the first edition of the programme and
around 1.5 million during the following editions) in addition to those registered on the sites
of Repubblica, Corriere and Fatto Quotidiano.
96
In this sense, it is sufficient to consider that YouTube (of the Google group) registered,
in Italy, constant growth, having increased from the eighth most visited site in terms of
single visitors in 2009 to the third most visited site in November 2011, with an audience,
in February 2012, equal to 65% of active users (and 32.9% of the entire population,
compared to respectively 47.9% and 18.4% in 2009), and with a decided increase in the
time spent by each person.
153
2012
(21.5 million users), who spend an average time per month per person of more
than 8 hours, which is far more than the average use of any other site
whatsoever.
For that matter, analysing the capacity to attract audiences of the
companies (i.e. corporate groups, see Table 2.65) which operate on the web,
this evolution is confirmed.
Table 2.64. The first 15 sites on the web in terms of audience (February 2012)
Site
Ran
k
Total
Audienc
e (000)
% of
active
users
% of
populatio
n
Time per
user
Pages per
user
27,695
100.0
%
50.7%
20:44:47
2,391.6
Google
1
25,527
92.2%
46.7%
01:44:37
256.8
Facebook
2
21,549
77.8%
39.4%
08:05:41
1,032.9
YouTube
3
17,983
64.9%
32.9%
01:04:54
98.8
MSN/WindowsLive/Bin
g
4
15,947
57.6%
29.2%
00:59:41
77.4
Virgilio
5
14,753
53.3%
27.0%
00:49:13
108.6
Libero
6
14,143
51.1%
25.9%
01:08:09
152.2
Microsoft
7
14,053
50.7%
25.7%
00:44:52
14.7
Yahoo!
8
13,718
49.5%
25.1%
00:29:00
62.3
Wikipedia
9
13,394
48.4%
24.5%
00:12:55
18.4
Blogger
10
11,048
39.9%
20.2%
00:10:01
16.3
Leonardo.it
11
9,608
34.7%
17.6%
00:09:55
18.8
La Repubblica
12
9,398
33.9%
17.2%
00:27:42
38.1
Corriere della Sera
13
8,622
31.1%
15.8%
00:23:51
36.6
Skype
14
8,357
30.2%
15.3%
01:32:28
16.8
eBay
15
8,224
29.7%
15.0%
00:38:40
88.1
Source: Audiweb
154
Table 2.65. The first 10 companies on the web in terms of audience (February
2012)
Company
Ran
k
Total
Audienc
e (000)
% of
activ
e
users
%
pop.
27,695
100
50.7
Google
1
25,855
93.4
47.3
Facebook
2
21,549
77.8
39.4
Microsoft
3
20,081
72.5
36.7
4
15,226
55.0
27.9
5
14,143
51.1
25.9
Yahoo!
6
13,721
49.5
25.1
Wikimedia
Foundation
7
13,447
48.6
24.6
Banzai
8
13,343
48.2
24.4
9
11,074
40.0
20.3
10
10,846
39.2
19.8
Telecom
Italia
Libero
Network
RCS
MediaGroup
Espresso
Group
Total
minutes
(000)
Time
per
user
34,474,6 20:44:
66
47
4,006,58 02:34:5
4
8
10,465,9 08:05:4
13
1
1,585,56 01:18:5
1
7
00:50:2
768,423
8
01:08:1
964,250
1
00:29:0
397,943
0
00:13:0
175,563
3
00:14:3
193,508
0
00:29:2
326,217
8
00:28:4
312,379
8
Total
pages
visited
(000)
66,236,6
14
8,585,06
9
22,257,1
85
1,443,50
9
1,679,56
4
2,153,82
3
Pages
per
user
2,391.
6
332.0
1,032.
9
71.9
110.3
152.3
854,540
62.3
250,621
18.6
376,854
28.2
523,846
47.3
457,612
42.2
Source: Audiweb
From the aspect of the value of the network to provide information, it can
be noted that the classic publishers pay greater attention to the new digital
technologies and the new ways of using information. In this regard, during the
last year, publishers and broadcasters have started to propose new services and
products, including some that are specifically for tablets and other mobile
devices. This greater attention to digital technologies on the part of publishers is
reflected, as has been seen, in particular in the preceding paragraph, in growth
in terms of audience. Considering only the sites of publishers which come from
the traditional communication areas, it is pointed out that, although they are not
among the most visited sites, they register, in general, a positive evolution (see
Table 2.66).
155
2012
Table 2.66. The first 15 sites of the operators of the classic media (February
2012)
Rank
Audienc
e (000)
% of
active
users
% of
population
Time per
user
Pages
per user
La Repubblica
12
9,398
33.9
17.2
00:27:42
38.1
Corriere della Sera
13
8,622
31.1
15.8
00:23:51
36.6
TGCOM24
23
6,143
22.2
11.2
00:13:58
25.6
Rai
26
5,210
18.8
9.5
00:10:47
17.7
Quotidiano.net
30
4,726
17.1
8.6
00:05:33
8.6
La Gazzetta dello
Sport
35
4,054
14.6
7.4
00:23:04
35.7
Il Sole 24 ORE
36
4,013
14.5
7.3
00:12:48
18.2
La Stampa.it
40
3,760
13.6
6.9
00:11:42
15.5
ANSA
45
3,561
12.9
6.5
00:14:58
22.5
Donna Moderna
46
3,537
12.8
6.5
00:08:00
20.2
SKY.it
47
3,519
12.7
6.4
00:09:15
24.2
VideoMediaset
52
3,210
11.6
5.9
00:12:21
20.2
Mediaset.it
69
2,653
9.6
4.9
00:07:47
15.7
82
2,243
8.1
4.1
00:10:37
18.8
21
6,519
23.5
11.9
00:06:10
11.9
Site
Quotidiani
Espresso
SeatPG Directories
Online
Source: Audiweb
The side of advertising
Total online advertising regards all the advertisements circulated on the
internet, regardless of the users' navigation equipment (fixed PC, laptops,
tablets, smartphones, etc.), the communication mode (fixed, mobile, nomadic)
and the other navigation characteristics. It is also distinguished from the other
media because it can identify and efficiently reach specific user targets, thanks
to the capacity of identifying and segmenting the consumers, and for the
possibility of precisely measuring the effectiveness of the advertisements, with
direct consequences on the methods for defining prices and for deciding the
entity of the same. Online advertising is also distinguished by the fact that an
advertising campaign requires a minimum investment, much lower than the
investment required for other media. This also allows small advertisers to carry
out advertising campaigns, for that matter of a national level, on a means of
mass communication.
However, the average price of advertisements on the web, calculated in
CPT (Cost per Thousand views) is nevertheless, at least for the display
component, higher than for other media. This result derives from the fact that,
as seen previously, the web allows for a more precise targeting of the
advertising message which generally reaches a more specific public; therefore,
the rate at which the user moves from visual contact to purchase (the CRT,
156
click-through-rate) and therefore the unit value, is higher on the internet than
for any other medium.
For that matter, comparison at international level shows further growth
margins, considering that the ratio between advertising investment and number
of pages visited or active users in Italy is equal to 1.75 and 38, while abroad the
values are significantly higher (see Table 2.67).
Table 2.67. Ratio between advertising revenues (ADV)/pages visited/active
users
ADV (Euro
billions)
Pages
viewed
(billions)
€ every
100 pv
Active
users
€/
Active
user
UK
4.7
91.2
5.15
39,543,396
119
Germany
3.6
127
2.86
47,801,625
76
France
1.8
111
1.7
41,096,378
46
Italy
1
57.2
1.75
26,247,000
Spain
814
51.7
1.57
22,724,468
Country
38
36
Source: Processed by IAB on Nielsen and Audiweb data
In recent years certain new communication techniques have enjoyed swift
success which, together with a reduction in advertising investments due to the
crisis, has led to sudden and significant changes in how advertisers invest their
resources. This has resulted in problems in measuring the phenomena in
progress97, as well as modifications of a structural nature in advertising
strategies. Of such phenomena, in the sector analysed, those previously pointed
out have taken on special importance: the affirmation of the social networks, the
sudden diffusion of tablets (mobile terminals designed for access to the contents
of the internet) with the consequent expansion of the applications, and the
proliferation of audio-visual content.
Consequently there have been changes in advertising strategies, with the
creation (or at least the attempted creation) of a direct and continuous contact
between advertisers and consumers. New forms of advertising are therefore
being tried through the social networks, where rather than buying media space,
brand awareness is built through discussions. In this context, the audience is not
assessed only in quantitative terms, but also according to its affinity to the
target.
From the commercial viewpoint, it is maintained that the quantity and
quality of data held by the social networks on each user can allow for highly
targeted advertising, rather than any other type of medium, and also, in the
sphere of the web, any other type of site. There also appears to be a positive
connection between commercial inclination and the use of the social networks:
97
A particular difficulty is represented by the measurement of the audiences; in fact, with
a highly fragmented public the classical method of cross sampling with registration of
numbers can hardly be applied, as can be seen from the critical aspects that have recently
come to light in measuring television and radio audiences.
157
2012
70% of Facebook users make online purchases (12% more than the average of
adults who are active on line) and 53% are brand followers. These are all
indicators of the capacity of these platforms in influencing consumption.
With regard to the segmentation of the online advertising market, several
different forms of advertising can be distinguished according to several criteria,
including the format (ranging from a format based on text to one based on
visual content), the method by which the advertisements are selected and the
choice of the type of users to which the advertising is addressed (ranging from a
traditional segmentation on a social-demographic basis to advertisements based
on research relative to users or their behaviour), the method of calculating the
prices for the use of the advertising spaces (i.e. the price model, which may be
per “impression”, “per click” or “per action”) and the type of device on which the
advertisements appear (fixed, mobile).
The different types of online advertising are in a state of constant change,
therefore no classification can be considered complete. Over time, online
advertising has developed new forms of communication, becoming increasingly
complex, evolving from the static types of the early years of the internet to
solutions that are highly sensitive to the profile of the single user, as emerging
from his/her navigation behaviour on the web (so-called behavioural targeting).
In parallel to the forms of advertising, the methods for the sale and
brokerage of advertising space on the internet have also evolved, with new
transaction methods emerging beside the traditional channels by which
brokerage is carried out and offers are made. The process for the purchase and
sale of advertising space has deeply changed in the transition to online
advertising, with the development of automatic advertising intermediation
methods based on auction mechanisms.
These forms of intermediation and of offering influence the balance of
strength between the various operators. In the digital space, the organisations
which produce news apply increasingly more often to networks of associates to
sell their advertisements and they depend on aggregators (such as Google) and
social networks (like Facebook) to reach a consistent part of their public. For
that matter, in view of the increasingly mobile consumption of news, such
organisations must follow the rules of the device manufacturers (such as Apple)
or their software developers in order to supply their content (every new platform
often requires a new software programme).
Although initially online advertising has been sold in the same ways as
those normally used for other means, new forms of payment have evolved over
time98. At world level, in recent years, there has been obvious growth in the
amount of online advertising sold on the basis of performance99.
The internet presents new questions and new critical aspects100, as it also
proposes again, on the new media, questions already discussed on the other
media. A rather evident example of these problems regards the search engines,
which combine two types of results. The first type, the so-called "organic
results", deriving from the search algorithm, give the links that the search
engine considers more relevant for the search carried out, selected on the basis
of page content, key words, links and other factors. The other, "sponsored"
98
The sale mechanism and the underlying price depend on the results of the advertising
and on the effectiveness of the advertising message.
99
IAB, “Internet Advertising Revenue Report”, 2010.
100
There are, for example, all the problems connected to the management of sensitive
data or the challenges posed by computer piracy.
158
type, give the links for which the search engine perceives a remuneration,
chosen on the basis of the advertiser's payment, in addition to the assessment
of the correspondence between the advertising and the user's search. In this
regard, an online experiment has been carried out on "informed advertising”101,
measuring what happens if one changes the wording “sponsored links” to
“advertising” or “paid advertising”, which has shown that the number of clicks
with the more explicit definition are respectively equal to 25% and 27% less.
The results are more pronounced in the case of commercial sites and in the
cases of more vulnerable users (of a lower educational level and with less online
experience). Similar phenomena in the past have led the sector authorities to
force the other advertising means to give clear and comprehensible information
which points to the advertising, when present, in order to guarantee all users.
The economic resources
With regard to the economic resources, it can still be stated that
advertising represents the main source of income for those who operate on the
internet102, even if there is a partial change in the economic model of the
internet, where the so-called premium models are becoming more common, i.e.
financing through forms of direct payment, in some cases driven by a part of the
contents that are free. An indication in this sense is also marked by the
evolution towards an digital market that increasingly features closed applications
and systems, rather than open navigation103.
In Italy, the online advertising sector has amply exceeded, in value, one
billion euro, representing at present the second advertising means after
television. However, what distinguishes online advertising is the diverse path of
evolution which, in the last year, has registered growth of 30%, an unimaginable
rate, in this phase of stagnation, for all other advertising markets.
Table 2.68. The value of the online advertising market.
Revenues(*) (mln. euro)
2010
(**)
2011
∆
2011/201
0 (%)
National and local online
1,177.29
1,578.4
34.1
advertising
National online advertising
779.84
1,009.3
29.4
(excluding classified/directories)
(*)
For evaluating the sector, the data of the Federazione Concessionarie Pubblicità (FCPAssoInternet) and of the IAB were used, integrated, when deemed necessary, with specific
information requested of the single companies.
(**)
Estimated values.
101
B. Edelman and D.S. Gilchrist, “Advertising disclosures: Measuring labelling alternatives
in internet search engines”, Information Economics and Policy, 24 (2012) pag. 75-89. This
study extends to the literature on the “shrouded attributes” (for example, the cost of ink
cartridges in the choice of the printer), showing how the information can be difficult for
consumers to process even when visible and in full view.
102
This analysis will therefore focus on this resource.
103
“Today what has been reached by navigation (browsers) account for less than one
quarter of the time spend on the internet… and it is progressively decreasing. Most
internet traffic regards peer-to-peer file transfers, e-mail, company VPNs,
machine/machine communications via APIs, telephone calls via Skype, World of Warcraft
and other online games, Xbox Live, iTunes, voice-over-IP telephone calls, iChat, and video
streaming. Most recent applications on the network are closed and often privately owned”;
Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff, “The web is dead. Long live the internet”, Wired,
September 2010.
159
2012
Source: processed by Agcom on FCP and company data
One of the main features of the internet, already mentioned above, is the
possibility of addressing a national catchment area of users. The only form of
advertising which continues to maintain a local dimension also on the web is the
category of classified advertisements/directories which, in view of the nature of
the product of provenance, focused on the advertising of small companies, takes
on importance at local level104.
In the analysis of online advertising revenues, therefore, as well as
assessing the entire compartment105, it is worth differentiating the analysis,
extrapolating local data and distinguishing national advertising revenues. This is
particularly necessary because of the fact that the figure of the online sales of
the operators of classified advertising/directories has undergone an anomalous
trend in recent years. In fact, for revenues from advertising of this type the
figure of Seat Pagine Gialle is particularly important; in fact, in its 2010 financial
statement, this company reclassified its own accounting items, changing the
drivers for the assignment of revenues between advertising in hard-copy
directories and in online directories. Considering the value of the sales of the
Seat group, the new accounting criterion has determined, in itself, a large
transfer of resources from advertising in hard-copy directories to the online
advertising.
In the light of this phenomenon, but above all in view of the local features
of the advertising in these categories, the national component of the online
sector, which has greater standardisation of the product offered, as well as
higher relevance from a competitive viewpoint (and as regards the plurality of
the information), was then analysed separately, in line with the international
methodology (IAB).
Without this component, the compartment in any case shows high growth
rates, equal to about 30% (see Table 2.69). The share of advertising of the
display type remains the majority in Italy (with an incidence of more than 50%),
although similar growth rates are also registered for the search type.
The most important differentiation is that between the operators that are
active exclusively in the digital world (such as Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft,
Facebook) and the subjects which come from the other media. The former
represent the larger category, obtaining over 65% of national resources (see
again Table 2.69), in line with what was observed previously regarding the
audience levels of the various corporate groups which operate on the network.
104
The company Seat itself, in the case of its own online products, states that the offer is
addressed to local operators, exploiting “[…] the capillary presence of the sales force on
the territory to offer ad hoc opportunities for local customers”. See Seat Pagine Gialle,
Consolidated and individual company financial statements 2011, pag. 50.
105
The companies which operate as brokers and which have contributed to the survey are:
AdLink hi Media; Arcus; Banzai; Buongiorno; ClassPubblicità; Dada; Ed. Condé Nast;
Facebook; Finelco; Google; Hachette Rusconi; Leonardo ADV; Manzoni; Matrix;
Mediamond; Microsoft MSN.IT; Publikompass; Publitalia; Rcs; Reed Business; Seat; Sky
Pubblicità; Sipra; SPE; Sportnetwork; Tag Advertising; TGADV; Tiscali; WebAds;
Websystem Il Sole 24 Ore; Wind Libero Advertising; Yahoo!Italia.
160
Table 2.69. The national online advertising market in Italy: market shares
Revenues (€ mln.)
2010
Average of classic
operators
Electronic
publishing
operators
(*)
2011
Δ2011/2
010 (%)
Incidence
on the total
(2010)
Incidence
on the
total
(2011)
254.67
327.05
28.4%
32.7%
32.4%
239.56
294.35
22.9%
30.8%
29.2%
15.10
32.70
116.5%
1.9%
3.2%
Internet operators
525.17
682.32
29.9%
67.3%
67.6%
Total
779.84
1,009.3
29.4%
100%
100%
2,559
2,639
SMA operators
-
HHI
(*)
Estimated values.
Source: processed by Agcom on FCP and company data
The analysis of the situation of the national online advertising sector
shows a concentrated structure, with an increasing HHI index value, above the
threshold of 2,500 points106. In spite of the extreme variety and fragmentation
of the internet, online advertising therefore features a high and structural
concentration. The existence and therefore the exploitation of significant
network externalisation factors (such as the social networks, in which a user's
usefulness derives directly from how many other users are subscribed to the
network); relevant savings in transaction costs due to the aggregation of the
demand and the offer (for example, in the case of the aforementioned automatic
advertising intermediation programmes); information advantages linked to user
profiling (as in the case of search engines), as well as scale economies (for high
fixed, unrecoverable costs) and variety (through the bundles of numerous web
services, from searching to maps, and up to pure communication services messaging, emails and phone calls), are all elements which lead to the
attainment of a position of power on the market.
For that matter, the network has a viral capacity of diffusion, which means
an incredible speed of the introduction and affirmation of new sites and services,
causing, on one side, a lively industrial market, and on the other, the evolution
towards a context featuring the presence of few large operators and a myriad of
smaller companies. The last decade has featured the affirmation of the search
engines, with the leadership of Yahoo! at first, then ousted by Google (launched
in 1997 and already the market leader in 2004), at present the main operator in
Italy and abroad.
As fully illustrated in this paragraph, the present decade seems
indissolubly linked to the affirmation of the social networks. Facebook, which
started up in 2004, four years later was already the fifteenth operator for
audience in Italy; six months later (in January 2009) it had risen nine positions,
106
Following the Merger Guidelines of the European Commission and of the United States
Department of Justice/Federal Trade Commission, a market with an HHI of more than
2,500 points can be defined as concentrated.
161
2012
and was sixth. Today Facebook is the second operator (after Google) for single
users and it is by far the company with the highest average time spent per user.
Some international studies, for that matter confirmed by national evidence,
underline the fact that the social networks have not yet managed to completely
translate their success with users into advertising revenues107. In any case, in
view of the position held in respect of users, the advertising success of a subject
like Facebook seems inevitable108.
In spite of the inclination of this sector to concentration, it is necessary to
recognise the innovative and volatile nature of the compartment, which in recent
years has proven that it is open to new subjects, as well as being a very
important source of the pluralism of information. The progressive affirmation of
new subjects is probably destined to oust previous positions. However, it is
necessary to carefully monitor online advertising in order to avoid the creation of
compartments which can cause high barriers to rise against entry, thus
threatening the correct and efficient functioning of this market.
Although it is a sector still in evolution, there is no doubt of the growing
importance of the internet, both from the economic-competitive viewpoint and
as regards the pluralism of information. As already mentioned, the economic
models underlying the services on the internet extend from those that are
completely free, funded entirely or partly by advertising, to services that are
entirely for payment. In any case, the sale of advertising space is the major
financial resource, above all of the news sites which produce effects on
information pluralism. In this sense, online advertising takes on a strategic
relevance not only for the competitive situation on the web, but also for the
protection of pluralism.
2.2.5. Advertising
In this paragraph, after a brief description of how the advertising sector
works on the communication media, attention is moved to the advertising offer,
on both the classic media and on the internet, through an examination of the
operators present in the national context, and of the distribution of the economic
resources in the period 2010-2011, divided according to medium. This is
followed by an examination of the structure of the demand on the part of
advertisers, together with the division according to class of investment and
merchandise sector. Lastly, there is an economic analysis of the sector of the
advertising intermediation services, through the analysis of the elements
featuring the activity carried out by the media centres and the subjects active in
the country.109
107
In this regard, see the comScore survey, It’s a Social World. Top 10 Need-to-knows
about Social Networking and Where it’s Headed, 2011; among the analyses on the
possible causes, also: J. LEVIN AND P. M ILGROM, “Online Advertising: Heterogeneity and
Conflation in Market Design”, American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, 2010.
108
It is also worth noting that Facebook, in the middle of 2012, will place its shares on the
stock market at a price of between 28 and 35 dollars, for a total market capitalisation
which will be between 85 and 96 billion dollars, the largest IPO in the history of the
internet, even exceeding Google's launch on the market in 2004.
109
With reference to the advertising communications sector as a whole, considering,
therefore, both advertising on the media including the internet (so-called above the line),
and the other forms of corporate advertising which do not use communications media (so-
162
The
functioning
communications media
of
the
sector
of
advertising
on
the
As it is known, from the industrial profile, the sector of advertising on the
communications media can be placed within the framework of the two-sided
market theory, according to which the means of communication represents the
platform or the uniting element which allows the publisher (of newspapers,
magazines, web sites, telephone directories or category directories), or the
television or radio broadcasters to place the two groups of advertising users in
contact with each other, satisfying their respective demands (see Figure 2.32).
By means of advertising revenues, the publisher finances completely
(unencrypted television, radio, internet sites, the free press), or partially (pay
TV, daily publications, magazines), its own activity of offering contents. The
main feature of such a market is the presence of indirect network effects
(positive or negative) deriving from the behaviour of the groups of users placed
in contact with each other via the means of communication. The positive
externalisation on the advertising side deriving from the increased use of the
communications means is clear, but there is a questionable effect of the increase
of advertising interruptions on the use of the communications means110.
Figure 2.32. Communication means as a two-sided system
Versante degli inserzionisti di pubblicità
Versante degli utenti /consumatori di mezzi
Centri
media
Sistema di rilevazione
delle audience
Domanda e offerta di
informazione e intrattenimento
Domanda e offerta di
contatti pubblicitari
Inserzionisti
di pubblicità
Editori dei
mezzi
Utenti
Concessionarie
Source: Agcom
On the offer side, except for a part of advertising space sold directly by
the publisher which, however, is marginal, the sale of advertising space on a
single means takes place mostly by means of specific commercial structures: the
advertising brokers. These are specialist companies, often derivations of the
publisher itself subsequent to an outsourcing of the activity, on which mandate
is conferred for the sale of advertising space on the communications means.
The advertisers can use the strategic and operational support of the media
centres, which perform a series of more or less articulated intermediation
services both before (advertising compartment analyses; campaign definition,
called below the line) a specific survey has been launched, which is still in progress, the
procedural developments of which are illustrated in paragraph 3.2 below.
110
Although there seems to be a negative relationship for television and radio between the
increase of advertising interruptions and the use of the means, for newspapers and
magazines this indication seems to be ambiguous, while it has a positive value on
directories and on some internet segments. See resolution no. 555/10/CONS of 15
November 2010, pag. 66 and following.
163
2012
programming and planning) and after (ex-post assessment of the results
achieved) the negotiation and purchase of advertising space from the brokers.
As illustrated in Figure 2.32, the purchase of advertising space on the
various means therefore represents the result of a complex activity of a
commercial nature composed of various steps, involving, with diverse intensity,
the three main actors (users, publishers and advertisers) who use the support
and services provided by the media centre, by the advertising brokers and by
the research companies.
The advertising offer
On the offer side, there are many advertising brokers in Italy, both
vertically integrated with the owners of the communications means and
independent of the publishing groups. In both cases, the brokers perform sales
activities, on behalf of the publishers owned by the same shareholders, or on
behalf of third parties, from which they receive remuneration in proportion to
the sales achieved (so-called revenues net of the sum repaid to the publishers).
Table 2.70 shows the main publishing groups with indication of the companies of
reference, present in the media sector, which offer advertising space directly or
through the advertising brokers belonging to the same ownership structure.
Table 2.70. Main publishing groups which offer advertising space in Italy
Group of reference
Company of reference
Mediaset S.p.A.
Fininvest
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A.
Confindustria
Caltagirone
Advance Publication
Fiat / Itedi Italiana
Edizioni
Monrif
Hearst Communication
Finelco
RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
S.p.A.
Seat Pagine Gialle S.p.A.
Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso
S.p.A.
RCS Mediagroup S.p.A.
Google Italy S.r.l.
SKY Italia S.r.l
Fox International Channel Italy
S.r.l
Telecom Italia S.p.A.
Telecom Italia Media S.p.A.
Il sole 24 ore S.p.A.
Caltagirone S.p.A.
Condénast
Editrice la Stampa S.p.A.
Publikompass S.p.A.
Monrif S.p.A.
Hachétte Rusconi S.p.A.
Cairo Communication
Cairo Communication S.p.A.
Class Editori
Class Editori S.p.A.
Microsoft
Other operators
Microsoft S.r.l.
Rai
Seat Pagine Gialle
Gruppo Editoriale
L'Espresso
RCS Mediagroup
Google
News Corporation
Telecom Italia
Source: Agcom
164
Advertising brokers
Publitalia'80 S.p.A.
Digitalia'08 S.r.l.
Mediamond S.p.A. (50%)
Mondadori pubblicità S.p.A.
Mediamond S.p.A. (50%)
Sipra S.p.A.
Seat Pagine Gialle S.p.A.
A.Manzoni & C S.p.A.
RCS Pubblicità S.p.A.
Google Italy S.r.l.
Sky Italia S.r.l.
Matrix S.p.A.
MTV Pubblicità S.r.l
Il sole 24 ore S.p.A.
Piemme S.p.A.
Condénast Pubblicità
Publikompass S.p.A.
Società Pubblicità editoriale S.p.A.
Hachette Rusconi Pubblicità S.p.A.
Cairo Communication S.p.A.
Cairo Pubblicità S.p.A.
Class Pubblicità S.p.A.
Classpi Class Pubblicità S.p.A.
Microsoft Adv
Before analysing the distribution of the economic resources according to
communication means, one must observe that, in the last five years, the
advertising sector on communication means has undergone many phenomena
that explain the particular trend of revenues achieved from classic and
innovative media (see Table 2.71). The first, and most significant, is represented
by the digitalisation process of the economy, which has conditioned the
progressive affirmation of the internet as the communication means, thus
favouring the development of forms of appreciation and/or exploitation of the
new platform also for advertising. The second regards the parallel crisis of a
structural nature of the publishing compartment, which first hit the daily
publishing sector, both the free press and the daily newspapers on sale, and
which recently extended also to the compartment of magazines and of
directories, as shown by the drastic reduction in advertising revenues obtained
through such means. The third is represented by the unfavourable economic
situation, which has led to a contraction in investments on the part of all
advertisers. The factors together have been reflected not only in the total value
of advertising income, but also on the distribution of the same across the
various communication platforms.
For the first time since the economic and financial crisis, in 2011 television
registered a loss of advertising revenues, the entity of which (equal to 4.2%),
however, was not sufficient to seriously prejudice the strength of this means
which remains, in Italy, the communication tool which can absorb the major
share of total advertising investments (equal to 42.4% of the total). At the same
time, the comparison with the trend of advertising revenues obtained through
the other classic means confirms the resistance of television even at times of
strong discontinuity, as at present compared to the past. However, the same
conclusions cannot be drawn in the case of publishing products which, as
mentioned several times, are undergoing a phase of decline with both structural
and cyclical features. Of the publishing products, magazines stand out having
registered, for the first time, losses in advertising resources (of 2.6%) and
directories with advertising revenues in free fall (equal to 45%). In this regard,
the trend of advertising in directories has been strongly conditioned by the
evolution of the sales achieved by the main operator in this compartment (SEAT
Pagine Gialle) and, in particular, by the progressively more important shift over
time of the revenues of this directory publishers towards online publishing111.
111
In the last three years (from 2008 to 2010), at the same time as a slight growth in the
total advertising revenues of SEAT (about +1.5% per year), the incidence of the hard-copy
directories had fallen substantially (from 82% to 58% of revenues), while the web
component has grown prodigiously, now representing more than 40% (compared to 18%
in 2008; see paragraph 2.2.4 for details of online advertising). Since the contract between
directory publishers and advertisers may envisage the possibility of multiple advertising
vehicles (hard-copy directories, the internet, and at times the telephone platform, both
fixed and mobile), the division of the revenues of these latter takes place on the basis of
internal drivers applied by the operators themselves on the basis of consultation estimates
of the various means. In this sense, the recorded trend of directory revenues and of those
on line is also the result of a different division applied over time by the operators. For
example, on page 19 of the SEAT Pagine Gialle 2010 Financial Statement, it states: “the
growth of these two segments, together with a new accounting system for the online
component of the revenues of the PAGINEBIANCHE®, which used to be included among
the revenues of the hard-copy products, have allowed for an increasing incidence of online
revenues which today represent approximately 41% of total revenues".
165
2012
With regard to the cinema, after the positive results observed the previous
year, in 2011 there has been a further decline in advertising revenues, probably
due to the end of the positive effects deriving from certain innovations regarding
the sector as a whole112. Lastly, for the radio, the loss in advertising sales,
registered in 2011 (of 6.6%) could be linked, on one side, to the drag effect of
the fall in television advertising sales, considering the complementary
relationship existing between the two means113; on the other hand, it could be
linked to the aforementioned absence of a system for measuring radio
audiences, which could generate considerable repercussions on the capacity of
the means to attract advertising resources, in view of the importance for the
various actors (media centres, advertisers and advertising brokers/publishers) of
the availability of certain and reliable audience data in order to plan their own
advertising campaigns.
The path of the evolution of the internet, however, is completely the
opposite; the growth trend already registered in previous years has continued,
and in 2011 it became the second communication means in Italy, overtaking
daily newspapers and magazines.
Table 2.71. Division of advertising revenues (national and local) according to
communication means
Revenues (€ mln.)
∆2011/201
Incidence
0
on the total
(2011, in
(%)
%)
2010
2011(*)
4,282.36
4,102.70
-4.2
598.92
559.55
-6.6
5.8
2,762.68
2,670.07
-3.4
27.6
- daily newspapers
1,410.80
1,353.06
-4.1
14.0
- magazines
1,351.88
1,317.01
-2.6
13.6
502.81
276.55
-45.0
2.9
68.10
58.57
-14.0
0.6
481.00
423.28
-12.0
4.4
1,177.29
1,578.40
34.1
16.3
9,873.16
9,669.12
-2.1
100.0%
Television
Radio
Publishing
Hard-copy directories
Cinema
Outdoor advertising
The internet
TOTAL
(*)
42.4
Estimated values.
112
In 2010 there was an unexpected evolution in the cinema sector, driven by certain
innovative processes - including the restructuring of the auditoriums, the affirmation of the
multiplex cinemas, the introduction of the 3D product - which led to the growth of sales as
a whole and of advertising revenues.
113
In fact, the radio does not normally represent the main means of an advertising
campaign. More often, the broadcasting of radio advertisements is planned as an
extension of a television campaign, usually to increase coverage of the young target which
in television is traditionally under-represented.
166
The advertising demand
In spite of the economic and structural crisis of the advertising
department which reflects, as mentioned previously, on the distribution of the
economic resources, the growing trend of the number of major advertisers has
been confirmed in 2011 (+1.3%) already noticed the previous year, numbering
more than 20,000 companies; however, if only national advertisers are
considered, therefore excluding companies which wish to circulate their
advertising message in more restricted, local spheres (in their own town,
province or region), the number falls to 16,149114. Nevertheless, it must be
pointed out that these figures refer to a part of the advertising demand which
represents the major investors in forms of "classic" advertising. The analysis of
the main sources of reference for the sector reveals that in the same year the
companies that invested in advertising in our country numbered far more than
20,000 (the number actually exceeded 1 million) if all the forms of corporate
advertising are considered, therefore both advertising communicated via the
communication means (so-called above the line), and the other types of
advertising that do not use the aforesaid means (so-called marketing or below
the line activities)115.
In view of the examination presented in the preceding paragraphs,
dedicated in particular to the economic analysis of both classic and innovative
communications means, the latter more important as regards informative
pluralism, this paragraph, continuing the considerations regarding the last year,
considers only classic or above-the-line forms of advertising.
In this regard, the trend of the many major advertisers in the two-year
term 2010–2011 (see Table 2.72) has, for that matter, confirmed the
phenomena brought to light in the examination of the distribution of advertising
revenues among the various means: the critical aspects of the publishing sectors
(magazines, newspapers and directories), and of the radio and cinema, against
the substantial resistance of television and the growth sustained by the internet.
For external advertising, there has been a trend contrary to that of advertising
revenues: a rather important increase in the number of investors.
114
See UPA, Pubblicità in Cifre, 2011
See, for example, the B2B ICT Business Gfk Eurisko survey, which revealed that 25%
of companies in Italy are companies investing in advertising (equal to a total of
approximately 4,500,000), and therefore equal to about 1,120,000 investing companies.
115
167
2012
Table 2.72. Major advertisers (national and local advertising) divided between
classic means and the internet (display)
Television
Radio
Daily newspapers (for
payment)
Magazines
Outdoor advertising
Cinema
Internet (display)
TOTAL(*)
(*)
Number of advertisers
2010
2011
1,603
1,621
1,107
1,086
7,066
7,017
10,724
1,356
331
3,600
20,193
10,713
1,488
295
3,762
20,451
∆
2011/2010
1.1%
-1.9%
-0.7%
-0.1%
9.7%
-10.9%
4.5%
1.3%
The total value of the advertisers including investors in the daily free press
Source: Nielsen, Watch Insights, March 2012
Going on to analyse the distribution of companies that have invested in
advertising, divided according to merchandise category (see 3.2.1.1), it must be
noted that certain features of the national demand have been consolidated over
time.
The first is the presence of a very high concentration of advertising
demand in our country: the first two advertising expenditure categories
represent more than ¼ of total investments, while the first 6 account for over
50%.
The second, instead, concerns the particular merchandise range of the
main investors in advertising in Italy, which have also remained substantially the
same. In 2011, in fact, the leading 5 economic sectors, in terms of advertising
expenditure, are the same as the previous year, while there are slight variations
in the first 10 merchandise types (to be noted is the rise to ninth place of the
pharmaceutical/health care sector).
The element which emerges most strongly from the data given in Table
2.73 regards, lastly, the impact of the economic crisis, and the consequent
contraction in the advertising expenditure relative to the diverse merchandise
categories of the investors. The advertising investment figures reveal that the
difficulties encountered by the national system as a whole are now extended to
the entire economic fabric, regardless of the merchandise sector concerned. In
this sense, it is significant that, on one hand, most of the under-registered
economic sectors have registered relevant contractions in advertising; on the
other, for the merchandise categories with a positive change in their advertising
expenditure, growth was decidedly more limited than the values registered in
2010.
168
Table 2.73. Advertising investments (national advertising) divided
according to classic means and the internet (display)
Advertising investments
(mln. euro)
∆2011/2010
Incidence on
2010
2011
(%)
1,095.95
972.15
-11.3
total (2011,
in %)
14.1
Cars
841.66
840.41
-0.1
12.2
Telecommunications
703.40
630.09
-10.4
9.2
Clothing
463.05
458.62
-1.0
6.7
Drinks - alcoholic and soft
417.51
364.36
-12.7
5.3
Personal care
330.07
343.70
4.1
5.0
Media/Publishing
358.14
342.66
-4.3
5.0
Toiletries
346.21
309.15
-10.7
4.5
Distribution
Pharmaceuticals/Health
care
309.56
294.45
-4.9
4.3
275.08
284.48
3.6
4.1
Finance/Insurance
312.59
281.71
-9.9
4.1
Home
275.16
256.76
-6.7
3.7
Home management
273.20
244.16
-10.6
3.6
Free time
166.79
183.04
9.7
2.7
Industry/Building/Activities
149.98
169.97
13.3
2.5
Personal items
144.25
155.02
7.5
2.3
Professional services
143.49
145.96
1.7%
2.1
Tourism/Travel
151.91
140.14
-7.7
2.0
Toys/School articles
100.69
102.09
1.4
1.5
Home electrical appliances
141.37
91.03
-35.6
1.3
Bodies/Institutions
Computer
technology/Photography
113.74
85.82
-24.5
1.2
50.91
62.65
23.1
0.9
61.16
55.54
-9.2
0.8
34.40
56.98
65.6
0.8
7,260.26
6,871.35
-5.4
100.0
Foodstuffs
Motorcycles/Vehicles
Sundry
TOTAL
(*)
(*)
The figure for 2010 advertising investments was re-calculated to standardise it with the
value available in 2011, therefore excluding the items “local advertising”, “classified
advertisements”, “service advertising”.
Source: processed by Agcom on UPA data, Pubblicità in cifre, 2011
Considering the distribution of national investors in classes of investment
according to media (see Table 2.74), the capacity of the various communication
means to attract advertisers of highly differing dimensions is clearly brought to
light. A few large national customers (about 1,500) invest in television
advertising; the profile of radio advertisers is similar, albeit with a slightly
smaller budget; while daily newspapers and magazines attract a large number of
small advertisers (more than 6,000 for daily newspapers and more than 10,000
for magazines). There are also a great many investors of all dimensions,
169
2012
numbering more than 3,000 (more than for all other means except for the
printed press) who invest only in display advertising, without also counting the
companies who buy search space. In the cinema (291) and posters (more than
1,300), the number of advertisers is rather low; in the first case this is due to
the limited size of the market (the cinema is by far the least used advertising
means), and in the second it is due to the greater presence of local investors
rather than national investors (the figures in the table in fact refer only to
national investors).
Table 2.74. Division of national investors according to media (2011)
Total
1st
quintile
(20%)
2nd
quintile
(20%)
3rd
quintile
(20%)
4th
quintile
(20%)
5th
quintile
(20%)
Total
Television
Daily
newspaper
s
Radio
Magazines
Posters
Cinema
The internet
no. of
compan
ies
no.
%
no.
%
no.
%
no.
%
no.
%
no.
%
no.
%
13
13
25.5
13
17.6
13
7.6
13
6.3
12
8.4
12
15.1
13
11.6
35
34
23.4
28
23.4
30
12.4
32
4.5
27
23.0
25
22.5
34
24.5
92
88
23.9
65
13.9
80
15.1
77
11.6
47
10.3
42
20.3
80
14.3
324
283
19.0
160
24.2
229
19.8
276
21.1
94
17.9
81
23.2
244
25.2
16,149
1,122
8.2
817
21.0
6,281
45.1
9,862
56.6
1,209
40.4
131
18.9
2,636
24.4
16,613
1,540
100
1,083
100
6,633
100
10,260
100
1,389
100
291
100
3,007
100
(*) Unlike what is indicated in table 2.72, this table gives the division of both the number
and the advertising expenditure of the companies which invest at national level, therefore
excluding those which invest at local level.
Source: UPA, Pubblicità in Cifre, cit.
The differentiation in the demand according to the means is very clearly
revealed by the analysis of the sectors to which the advertising investors belong
(see second part of 3.2.1.1).
The large companies, which produce a high quantity and variety of products,
tend to privilege means featuring a significant penetration among families; the same
can be found in the case of the sectors of basic commodities which invest in means
which can reach an extremely large and undifferentiated public. In fact, television is
generally used by large companies (over 40% of all advertisers who invest in this
means), whose businesses regard prevalently basic commodities (foodstuffs, personal
care, toiletries, drinks, pharmaceutical and health care products, products for the
home), as well as an important number of automotive constructors (12.7%) and
telecommunication companies (11.5%). Magazines, although many are highly specialist,
represent the favourite means for advertising campaigns of the clothing and accessories
170
sector (28.3%). The operators who invest mainly in the media also include those in the
compartments of personal care (11.7%), home care (8.3%) and personal objects
(6.4%) for which advertising in magazines addressed to specific targets is particularly
important. Advertising in daily newspapers is a communication tool more often used by
advertisers of the sectors of clothing (12.2%), of cars (10.6%), retail distribution
(9.1%), and services (altogether around 22.8%, of which 7.8% are finance and
insurance services, 7.8% are professional services, 2.9% are bodies/institutions, and
4.3% telecommunications). Radio, posters and the cinema represent a branch of the
demand rather similar to that of television (basic commodities: foodstuffs, cars, soft and
alcoholic drinks) but they also include telecommunications and retail distributors,
although the average size for access to such means is considerably lower.
Table 2.75. Division of national advertising investments between classic media
and the internet (display), percentage values (2011)
Daily
newspapers
Magazines
Outdoor
advertising
Cinema
Internet
Display
2.5
2.3
4.9
0.5
0.5
1.0
14.1 19.5
6.1
3.1
6.0
4.3
10.4
2.5
12.2 12.7 26.3 10.6
Television
Radio
Total Means
Internet
Display
Cars
Cinema
88.3
Outdoor
advertising
100
Magazines
Television
14.1
Daily
newspapers
Total Means
Foodstuffs
By economic sector over means as a % of the
total of the means
Radio
Incidence on
the total
By means over the economic sector as a % of
the total of the sector
12.2
100
66.6 12.6
9.0
3.7
2.2
1.2
4.6
Telecommunications
9.2
100
80.2
5.2
4.9
1.6
1.5
0.5
6.0
9.2
11.5
8.2
Clothing
6.7
100
23.5
1.4
3.9
0.9
2.1
6.7
2.4
1.6
Alcoholic/Soft drinks
5.3
100
79.3
5.8
6.0
4.6
1.0
1.2
2.2
5.3
6.6
5.2
3.0
2.1
Personal care
5.0
100
62.3
2.7
3.9
27.1
1.6
0.1
2.3
5.0
4.9
2.3
1.9
Media/Publishing
5.0
100
55.7 11.7 12.2
5.0
2.2
0.7
12.4
5.0
4.3
10.0
Toiletries
4.5
100
86.4
9.4
0.3
0.4
1.3
4.5
6.1
Distribution
Pharmaceuticals/Health
care
4.3
100
48.1 10.7 22.1
6.1
3.5
0.3
9.1
4.3
3.2
4.1
100
78.7
4.6
4.5
9.9
0.1
0.5
1.5
4.1
Finance/Insurance
4.1
100
47.0
7.6
19.7
5.1
2.0
0.5
18.1
Home
3.7
100
45.6
3.6
21.5 25.7
1.8
0.2
1.7
Home management
3.6
100
87.7
3.4
2.0
5.0
0.4
0.0
Free time
2.7
100
62.7
6.7
7.5
8.3
3.3
Industry/Building/Activities
2.5
100
59.3
4.9
17.2 11.3
Personal items
2.3
100
34.6
0.4
26.8 33.1
Professional services
2.1
100
21.6
3.9
Tourism/Travel
2.0
100
33.4
8.8
Toys/School articles
1.5
100
90.4
1.5
Home electrical appliances
1.3
100
66.8
Bodies/Institutions
Computer
technology/Photography
1.2
100
44.8
0.9
100
Sundry
0.8
100
Motorcycles/Vehicles
0.8
100
100.0
Total
0.8
3.9
9.8
9.5
8.5
2.5
3.0
9.2
2.0
11.7
4.7
0.6
2.0
5.6
2.2
6.3
5.4
10.7
0.6
0.6
3.6
0.8
2.8
1.0
7.8
9.1
2.3
8.7
1.7
6.8
5.1
3.3
1.8
3.5
0.2
3.3
1.1
4.1
3.0
5.3
7.8
1.8
4.8
2.8
12.8
3.7
2.7
2.3
7.7
8.3
4.0
0.8
1.1
1.4
3.6
4.9
2.1
0.7
1.5
0.8
0.1
0.9
0.3
11.2
2.7
2.6
3.0
1.9
1.9
5.2
1.2
5.2
1.5
1.3
4.6
2.5
2.3
2.0
4.1
2.4
2.1
4.6
2.0
1.7
1.2
2.2
2.3
1.2
0.2
5.8
6.4
2.3
3.8
0.9
38.5 10.6
2.3
0.4
22.6
2.1
0.7
1.4
7.8
1.9
2.9
1.3
8.3
25.4 17.6
3.0
1.7
10.2
2.0
1.1
3.0
5.0
3.1
3.6
5.0
3.6
1.4
1.3
15.6 22.4
7.2
19.1 49.2
4.3
7.8
12.2 28.3 15.1
0.9
2.8
0.1
1.7
2.7
1.5
2.1
0.4
0.1
0.4
0.0
3.7
0.7
3.9
5.2
14.1
1.0
0.3
8.6
1.3
1.4
0.9
0.7
1.6
0.8
0.6
2.0
8.0
24.4
9.1
4.4
0.8
8.6
1.2
0.9
1.7
2.9
1.0
3.3
1.4
1.9
34.1
6.8
18.8 16.4
0.5
2.2
21.2
0.9
0.5
1.1
1.6
1.3
0.2
2.9
3.4
1.0
0.7
24.6
1.9
0.0
64.7
0.8
0.0
0.1
0.6
1.8
0.9
0.0
9.3
18.3 37.8 12.4 24.4
4.8
0.1
2.1
0.8
0.2
5.2
1.0
1.7
2.3
0.1
0.3
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100.0
7.2
Source: processed by Agcom on UPA data, Pubblicità in cifre, cit.
:
171
2012
Intermediation between advertising demand and offer
As mentioned above, the media centre acts as a connecting element, on
the advertising side, between the advertisers who use the media for advertising
their own products and services and who therefore need to buy advertising
space according to planning often involving several platforms, and the
advertising brokers mandated by the publishers to place on the market the
advertising spaces available on their own media.
In this sense, from the economic profile, the media centre or agency
performs a classic function of reducing transactions costs (research, contact and
negotiating costs) as precisely according to the intermediary's role in the sphere
of sectors featuring many active operators, on both the demand side
(advertisers) and on the offer side (brokers), which involves, in practice, the
negotiation and purchase of advertising spaces in the name of (and on behalf of)
the customer.
For the advertiser, the media centre carries out a complex activity
represented by the management of the customer's advertising budget and
which, as shown in Figure 2.33, involves several stages and allows, or at least it
should allow, for the optimisation of the advertising expenditure by the selection
of the most effective communication strategy in respect of the objectives of
target, audience and cost per contact to be reached. The media centre thus
offers an advertising space purchase service accompanied by accessory
activities, both ex ante (definition of the media strategy, planning between the
various means),and ex post (management of the advertising campaign,
invoicing, measuring effectiveness, control of the actual execution of the
campaign).
From the economic profile, the relationship between media centre and
customer falls within the sphere of the principal-agent theory116. Every time the
advertiser instructs the media centre to negotiate and buy advertising spaces on
its behalf, in fact, the so-called principal-agent relationship is established,
characterised by conflicting interests and relevant information asymmetries
which make it particularly difficult to define the diverse contractual elements and
the subsequent monitoring of the behaviour of the media centre on the part of
the customer. In other words, as in any other agency relationship, there is a risk
of the agent's personal interest (that of the media centre) prevailing over than
of the principal (the advertiser). Because of these circumstances, it is therefore
necessary to define by a contract the agent's remuneration which must
represent adequate economic incentives to create convergence (or alignment)
between the interests of the two operators.
116
For an analysis of the theory of incentives within the sphere of the principal-agent
relationship, see, among others: Jean-Jacques Laffont, David Martimort, The Theory of
Incentives: The Principal-Agent Model, Princeton University Press, 2002.
172
Figure 2.33. Services performed by the media centres
Source: Agcom
The media centre also performs an important role towards advertising
brokers because it operates as an aggregator of the demand, allowing the
brokers, through a single counterpart, to present their sale offer to a huge
number of potential buyers. The larger and richer the media centre's customer
portfolio, the greater the convenience for the broker to interface with the centre,
especially in the case of a smaller broker, generally with a lesser capillary
network at national level. The total amount of the volumes transacted by the
media centre also influences on the media centre's negotiating capacity to buy
more favourable advertising spaces for the customer.
On the basis of the above considerations, there is another feature of the
advertising intermediation services which stand out for the existence of relevant
network outsourcing in the management of advertising investments. The media
centre's negotiating capacity in respect of the broker, on which its ability to
attract customers depends, is directly linked to the advertising investment
volumes administered. In fact, the greater the volume of total advertising
investments mediated, the greater the media centre's capacity to attract new
customers. It therefore follows that the media centre is interested in creating
suitable incentives to increase the number of customers intermediated (and/or
their advertising expenditure compared to the previous year), to thus favour the
growth of the total value managed, consequently producing a further increase in
the number of customers.
Going on to analyse the active operators on the offer side, it must be
remembered that subsequent to the path towards industrial concentration,
undertaken first at international level and later at national level, the advertising
intermediation services sector features the existence, together with certain
multinational groups (6 in all: Aegis, Havas, Interpublic, WPP, Publicis,
Omnicom) of other independent media centres, of smaller dimensions, active
only in Italy. Of these latter, the largest in terms of sales is Media Italia (of the
Armando Testa Group), followed by, among others, the following companies:
Piano! s.r.l., OC&M Media e Communicazione s.r.l., Strategy & Media Group,
InMedia to s.r.l., Waycomm s.r.l., Waymedia s.r.l., Fullsix Spa.
173
2012
Table 2.76. Main media centres active in Italy
Group of
reference
Parent company in
Italy
Media centres
Aegis Media Italia s.p.a.
Aegis plc
Aegis Media Italia
s.p.a. (100% MMA
Technologies LTD
Italia)
Havas Sa
MPG Italia s.r.l.
Interpublic
Group Sarl
IPG Italia s.r.l.
Carat Italia s.p.a.
Carat Luxory s.p.a. (100% Carat Italia)
Vizeum s.p.a.
Isobar Communication s.r.l.
Poster Scope Italia s.r.l.
MPG Italia s.r.l.
Media contacts s.r.l.
Universal Mccann s.r.l.
Initiative Media Milano s.r.l.
Mediaedgecia Italy s.r.l.
WPP
WPP Marketing
Communication
(WPPMC) s.r.l.
(Vincent Square
Holding B.V.
Holland)
Cia Medianetwork Milano s.r.l.
Cia Medianetwork Club s.r.l.
Maxus s.r.l
Maxus MC2 s.p.a.
Media Club s.p.a
Quisma s.r.l.
Mediacom Italia s.r.l.
WPP Holding Italy
(WPPHI) s.r.l. (WPP
Holdings Holland
BV)
Publicis
Groupe
MMS Italy Holding
s.r.l.
Omnicom
Media Group
Inc
Omnicom Media
Group s.r.l.
Armando
Testa s.p.a.
-
Mindshare s.p.a.
Mindshare Trevenezie s.r.l.
Kinetic s.r.l.
Media Insignt s.r.l
Startcom Media Vest Group s.r.l.
ZenithOmptimedia Group s.r.l.
Optimum Media Direction (OMD) s.r.l.
PHD s.r.l.
Tecnomedia s.r.l.
Media Italia s.p.a.
Tailor Media s.r.l.
Source: Agcom
As mentioned previously, the media centre manages commercial and
economic relations both with the brokers and with the advertisers, receiving
payment from both business operators. The media centre, acting on the
customer's instruction, which can be conferred with or without power of
representation, in fact receives remuneration for the services performed,
generally defined by means of a standard contract the terms of which (type of
payment, amount, etc.) vary according to the specific business agreements with
the individual customer. In addition to this remuneration, the media centre is
also paid by the advertising broker (so-called overcommission, or end-of-year
174
bonus, or media volume discount) in proportion to the sales volumes managed
by the media centre with the single broker, or rather to the increases in sales
volumes managed over the past year. These payments, although partially or
entirely returned to the customer, are generally defined in order to encourage
the media centre to increase total sales administered with the single operator.
The extent to which this system of triangular relationships based on the
dual remuneration mechanism described above, which ends up by aligning the
media centre's interests with those of the advertising broker, in the presence of
obvious informative asymmetries which feature the relationship between media
centre and the advertisers, can lead to distortions of the normal functioning of
the advertising system as a whole and is at present the subject of examination
within the sphere of a survey on advertising sales117.
117
See resolution no. 402/10/CONS, introducing “The launch of a survey on the
advertising intermediation sector”.
175
2.3. The evolution
framework
of
the
2012
legislative
In the period of reference, the following legislative changes have been
introduced into the subjects of interest to the Authority.
The national regulatory framework
Delegation for the adoption of the European directives on electronic
communications
With reference to the evolution of the national regulatory framework in
the sectors falling within the Authority's responsibility, it must be noted that, in
the first half of 2012, the procedure has been completed for the national
adoption of the new European regulatory framework for electronic
communications, adopted in December 2009 and composed of regulation no.
1211/2009, introducing the Body of European regulators in electronic
communications (BEREC) and the relative supporting Office, as well as the
directives no. 2009/136/EC and no. 2009/140/EC, introducing amendments to
the regulatory framework of 2002.
The adoption of the above-mentioned EU law took place on the basis of
the delegation provided for by law no. 217 of 15 December 2011, introducing
"Provisions for compliance with the obligations deriving from Italy's membership
of the European Community - Community Law 2010" which, under art. 9,
delegated the Government to implement – among others – the directives no.
2009/136/EC and no. 2009/140/EC, regarding electronic communication
services.
With the adoption of Italian Legislative Decrees nos. 69 and 70 of 2012,
the national provisions were therefore adopted for the adaptation and
implementation of the legislative provisions on electronic communications,
personal data protection and the protection of privacy in the sector of electronic
communications and of radio appliances and telecommunications terminals, also
by amendments to the Electronic Communications Code of Italian Legislative
Decree no. 259 of 1 August 2003, the Personal Data Protection Code of Italian
Legislative Decree no. 196 of 30 June 2003, and of Italian Legislative Decree no.
269 of 9 May 2001.
In the execution of the delegation, the government has adhered to many
principles and criteria of the directives. These include, in particular: efficient,
flexible and coordinated management of the radio spectrum, without distorting
competition and in line with the principles of the neutrality of technology and
services, albeit with possible limitations dictated by the protection of other public
interests; reinforcement of the prescriptions to guarantee the end users, also
with special reference to the transparency of the contracts for the supply of
electronic communication services, as regards prices, quality, times and
conditions of the services offer, also with the aim of facilitating comparison of
the same on the part of the user and the possible change of provider; redefinition of the role of the Italian Communications Authority, also through
suitable amendments to law no. 481 of 14 November 1995, regarding the
176
regulation of incompatibility that arises, or the duration of incompatibility
following the expiry of the mandate as a member or chairman of the said
Authority, aligning it to the provisions of the other European regulatory
authorities; the adoption of measures aimed at fostering efficient investments
and innovation in the electronic communication infrastructures, also through
provisions which attribute to the authority the task of disciplining the faculty of
sharing or of the joint occupation of the civil infrastructures, and provisions
which, for that purpose, provide for the adequate remuneration of the risks of
the investments sustained by the companies; the provision of immediate nondiscriminatory and transparent procedures for granting infrastructure installation
rights in order to promote an efficient level of competition; the review of the
market survey procedures for the electronic communication services, in pursuit
of the aim of the standardisation of the regulatory framework of the sector in
the European Union and in respect of the specific features of the conditions of
such markets; the promotion of an efficient level of infrastructural competition in
order to achieve effective competition in retail services.
Television frequencies
Article 9 of law no. 217 of 15 December 2011 (under paragraph 3), not
only delegates the government to implement the Telecom packet (supra), but
also to implement article 15 of the Consolidation Act of audiovisual and radio
services (also known as the “TUSMAR”), pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree
no. 177 of 31 July 2005. In fact, the said article of the TUSMAR introduces the
new paragraph 6-bis, which rules that "Without prejudice to the provisions of
article 8, local network operators which, in accordance with each other, reach a
coverage of no less than 80 percent of the national population, may broadcast
only one programme supplying audiovisual media services authorised at national
level except for those integrated, also with the subjects referred to in article 2,
paragraph 1, letter q). Another programme of national audiovisual media
services suppliers, as defined above, can be transmitted by the said local
operators if the same transmission capacity is not requested by other subjects
who have voluntarily released the frequencies used locally, as envisaged in
paragraph 8 of article 1 of Italian law no. 220 of 13 December 2010".
Also regarding frequencies, art. 3 of Italian law no. 34 of 31 March 2011,
converted into Italian law no. 75 of 26 May 2011, assigns to the Authority the
task of defining the procedures and economic conditions on the basis of which
the assignees of the radio-television frequency usage rights must comply with
the obligation of granting a share of the transmission capacity assigned to them,
in any case of no less than two programmes, in favour of subjects operating
locally at 1 January 2011 which do not request to be included in the
classification of subjects legitimately authorised for local radio-television
broadcasting, drawn up by the Ministry of Economic Development; the above,
providing the said subjects voluntarily release the frequencies used and give up
their qualification as network operators or if, on the basis of the said
classifications, they are not the assignees of such usage rights.
Italian decree law no. 16 of 2 March 2012, converted with amendments
into Italian law no. 44 of 26 April 2012, under art. 3-quinquies has annulled the
auction call and the relative regulations (as published in the Official Journal no.
80 of 8 July 2011), which envisaged the beauty contest procedure for the
assignment of the usage rights for television band frequencies (so-called internal
digital dividend), establishing that such frequencies shall be assigned by public
auction called, within one hundred and twenty days from the entry into force of
177
2012
the regulation, by the Ministry of Economic Development according to the
procedures established by the Authorities in concert with the European
Commission.
Under paragraph 2 of the same article, the legislator has conferred
mandate on the Authority to adopt the necessary procedures for the holding of
the auction, establishing, as guiding principles and criteria, that:
a) the frequencies shall be assigned “on the basis of different batches, by
auction procedures with award to the highest economic offer also by competitive
re-launch, ensuring the vertical separation between programme suppliers and
network operators, the network operators being obliged to allow access to
programme suppliers under fair and non-discriminating conditions, according to
the priorities and criteria fixed by the Authority to guarantee access the new
programme suppliers and to favour technological innovation”;
b) each batch shall be composed “on the basis of the degree of coverage,
taking into account the possibility of allowing for the creation of networks for
macro broadcasting areas, the flexible use of radio-electricity, spectrum
efficiency and technological innovation”;
c) the duration of the usage rights within the sphere of each batch shall be
modulated in a manner which “guarantees the prompt destination of the
frequencies for the uses established by the European Commission regarding the
discipline of the radio spectrum also according to the contents of the National
and Community Digital Agenda”.
Paragraph 3 of the same article also assigns to the Authority and to the
Ministry of Economic Development the duty of promoting every action useful to
guarantee effective competition and technological innovation in the use of the
radio spectrum and to ensure the efficient use and economic exploitation, in
compliance with the management policy established by the European Union and
the aims of the National and Community Digital Agenda.
Paragraph 6 then requires the Ministry of Economic Development to issue
a decree for the definition of the criteria and procedures for the allocation of an
indemnity to the subjects participating in the aforesaid auction. Lastly,
paragraph 7 rules that the revenues deriving from the assignment of the
frequencies shall be allocated to a special fund for technological innovation.
Wholesale access to the fixed network
Art. 2 quater of Italian decree law no. 5/2012, converted into law no. 35
of 4 April 2012, assigns to the Authority, in order to guarantee maximum
competition on the telecommunications market, the task of identifying, within
one hundred and twenty days from the date of the entry into force of the law,
according to the procedures envisaged in directive 2002/21/EC, measures which
can: “a) ensure the non-aggregated offer of prices for wholesale access to the
fixed network and to the accessory services, so that the wholesale price of the
access service to the fixed network indicates separately the cost of renting the
line and the cost of the accessory activities, such as the line activation service
and the corrective maintenance service; b) make it possible for the applying
operators to buy such services also from third party companies operating in a
competitive system under the supervision and according to the procedures
indicated by the Authority itself, in any case ensuring that the security of the
network is maintained”.
178
Crossed press and television ownership
Art. 3 of Italian decree law no. 34 of 31 March 2011, converted into law
no. 75 of 26 May 2011, has replaced paragraph 12 of article 43 of the
Consolidation Act of the audiovisual and radio media services, referred to in
Italian Legislative Decree no. 177 of 31 July 2005 and subsequent amendments,
extending until 31 December 2012 the ban on acquiring interests in daily
newspaper publishing houses and on participating in the constitution of new
daily newspaper publishing houses, except the publishing houses of daily
newspapers circulated only in electronic mode, which ban applies to all “the
subjects which practice the business of television broadcasting at national level
on any platform whatsoever and which, on the basis of the latest provision for
the assessment of the economic value of the integrated communications system
adopted by the Authority pursuant to this article, have achieved revenues of
more than 8 percent of said economic value”.
Also regarding corporate control, art. 2, paragraph 1, of Italian decree law
no. 21 of 15 March 2012 (converted, with amendments, into law no. 56 of 11
May 2012) attributes to the Prime Minister the task of identifying the networks,
the plant, the assets and the agreements of strategic relevance for the energy,
transport and communications sector, and power of veto against any resolution,
act or operation adopted by a company which holds one or more of the assets
identified by Prime Ministerial Decree, which has the effect of changing the
ownership, control or availability of the said assets or of changing their use,
including the resolutions of the shareholders' meetings or of the boards of
directors regarding corporate merger or unbundling, or the transfer abroad of
the head office, the company or a branch of the same.
With regard to paragraph 9 of the same article, the implementation
provisions shall be adopted by Prime Ministerial decree, after "consultation with
the independent authorities of the sector".
The postal service
Italian Legislative Decree no. 58 of 31 March 2011 has implemented
directive 2008/6/EC which modifies directive 97/67/EC, as far as regards the full
completion of the internal market of postal services for the European
Community. The regulation relative to the liberalisation of the postal services
market has in fact acquired importance for the Authority's activity subsequent to
the suppression of the National Agency for regulating the postal sector and the
consequent assignment to the Authority of the relative functions on the part of
the so-called “Save Italy Decree” (decree law no. 201 of 6 December 2011,
annex A). Consequently, in implementation of the primary regulatory dictate,
the Authority, with resolution no. 731/11/CONS, has instituted the Postal
Services Direction with general responsibility for regulating and supervising the
sector.
The Digital Agenda
Art. 47 of Italian decree law no. 5 of 9 February 2012, converted into law
no. 35 of 4 April 2012 indicates as the priority aim, within the sphere of the
indications of the European Digital Agenda, that of the modernisation of relations
between public administration, citizens and companies, assigning to the
Government the task of continuing, through coordinated actions directed at
favouring the development of the demand and offer of innovative digital
services, the expansion of the offer of broadband connection, encouraging
179
2012
citizens and companies to use digital services, and the promotion of industrial
capacities adequate to sustain the development of innovative products and
services.
Paragraph 2 of the same regulatory provision requires the Ministry of
Economic Development to issue a decree for the institution of a steering
committee for the execution of the Italian Digital Agenda, indicating as the aims
the creation of technological infrastructures to satisfy the growing demand for
digital services, the increase in digital administration (e-government)
applications to improve services to citizens and companies, the promotion of
cloud computing architecture for public administration activities and services,
the promotion of the demand for innovative goods and services based on digital
technology, the creation of infrastructures to favour access to the internet in
large public spaces, and the identification of criteria, timing and the relative
procedures for making payments in electronic mode.
The organisation and functioning of the Authority
Art. 23, paragraph 1, of the aforesaid decree law no. 201 of 6 December
2011, converted into law, with amendments, by art. 1, paragraph 1, of Italian
law no. 214 of 22 December 2011, has reduced the number of the members of
the Authority's Board of Directors from eight to four, excluding the Chairman.
Consequently, the number of members of the Infrastructures and Networks
Commission has been reduced from four to two, and those of the Authority's
Services and Products Commission have also been reduced from four to two.
Measures for containing public finance and for liberalisation and
economic development
Furthermore, in the period of reference, many provisions have been
issued aimed at reducing public spending, at liberalisation and at economic
growth, some of which have regarded all the independent authorities in general,
while others specifically concern the Authority.
The more important include: decree law no. 98 of 6 July 2011, containing
“Urgent provisions for financial stabilisation”; decree law no. 138 of 13 August
2011, containing “Further urgent measures for financial stabilisation and for
development”; decree law no. 1 of 24 January 2012, containing “Urgent
provisions for competition, the development of infrastructures and
competitiveness”.
Italian decree law no. 98 of 6 July 2011, converted into law no. 111 of 15
July 2011, not only includes many measures for containing the expenditure of
the Public Administrations, but it expressly refers to the independent authorities
and, in particular, to the Italian Communications Authority, envisaging measures
aimed at economic development.
With regard to the first aspect, relative to limiting expenditure, in
envisaging a general reduction in the resources of the political-administrative
and collegial bodies, a reduction of 20 percent is established for 2012, compared
to the year 2011, in the allocations to the independent authorities (art. 5). In
addition, the representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Finance who sit on
the boards of auditors, also of the independent authorities, shall be chosen from
those entered on a special list (art. 10, paragraph 19).
180
With regard to the second aspect, relative to the measures for economic
development, the decree envisages important measures for the development of
electronic communications.
Above all, art. 25 introduces measures for the rationalisation of the radioelectrical spectrum. In particular, the article in question not only lays down a
series of provisions (of a compulsory, promotional and legal type) aimed at
liberalising the frequency spectrum (paragraph 1), but it also requires the
Communications Authority to impose the procedures and the economic
conditions according to which the assignees of the usage rights have the
obligation of transferring a share, of not less than two programmes, of the
transmission capacities assigned to the same, in favour of subjects legitimately
operating locally at 1 January 2011 which do not apply for inclusion in special
classifications, providing they proceed to voluntarily release the frequencies
used and they give up their qualification as network operators, or which, on the
basis of the said classifications, they are not the assignees of usage rights
(paragraph 2, which amends article 4, paragraph 1, of decree law no. 34 of 31
March 2011, converted, with amendments, by law no. 75 of 26 May 2011.)
Lastly, art. 30 introduces measures for financing the broadband, in order
to reach the targets of the European Digital Agenda. On one hand, the
preparation of a strategic plan by the Ministry of Economic Development is
envisaged, together with the companies and entities which control the fixed and
mobile electronic communication networks and plant. In this sphere, the
Authority is consulted by the Ministry for Economic Development, on matters of
its responsibility, when implementation decrees are adopted.
On the other hand, the Communications Authority is recognised as the
Authority responsible for defining the tariff system in order to favour the
investments necessary for the creation of the national infrastructure and to
ensure, in any case, adequate returns on the capital invested.
Other measures for containing expenditure are envisaged by decree law
no. 138 of 13 August 2011, converted into law, with amendments, by art. 1,
paragraph 1, of law no. 148 of 14 September 2011. In particular, art. 18, which
is also addressed to employees and members of the independent administrative
authorities, prescribes the use of tourist class flights for transfers and missions
for service purposes in countries of the European Council.
Decree law no. 1 of 24 January 2012, converted into law, with
amendments, by art. 1, paragraph 1, of law no. 27 of 24 March 2012, lays down
provisions to protect and promote competition in the public administrations and
on the contents of the service charters, which are relevant for the independent
authorities. In particular, regarding the first aspect, the Prime Minister receives
the reports of the independent authorities regarding restrictions on competition
and hindrance to the correct functioning of the markets, to subsequently launch
suitable initiatives for the administrative coordination of the action of the
Ministries and provisions in implementation of articles 41, 117, 120 and 127 of
the Constitution (art. 4).
With regard to the second aspect (art. 8), the independent regulatory
authorities, in order to protect the rights of consumers and of local public service
users and to guarantee the quality, the universal nature and contained costs of
the relative services, define the specific rights of the public service charters, also
as regards indemnity, that users can demand from the service and infrastructure
managers.
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2012
Lastly, art. 5, paragraph 7, of Italian decree laws 16/12 has replaced
paragraph 2 of article 1 of law no. 196 of 31 December 2009, and subsequent
amendments, establishing that “for the purposes of the application of the
provisions regarding public finance, public administrations, for the year 2011,
are the bodies and subjects indicated for statistical purposes in the list referred
to by the communique of the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) on 24 July
2010, published on the same date in the Official Journal of the Italian Republic,
no. 171, and as of the year 2012 the bodies and subjects indicated for statistical
purposes by the aforesaid Institute in the list referred to in the communique of
30 September 2011, published on the same date in the Official Journal of the
Italian Republic no. 228, the independent authorities and, in any case, the
administrations referred to in article 1, paragraph 2, of Italian Legislative Decree
no. 165 of 30 March 2001 and subsequent amendments.».
Administrative proceedings
With regard to the transparency and efficiency of the administrative
action, it is worth noting art. 1 of Italian decree law no. 5/2012 (the so-called
simplification decree), converted into law no. 35 of 4 April 2012, which has
modified article 2 of law no. 241 of 7 August 1990, on administrative silence,
introducing, among other things, the power of substitution in the case of inertia
on the part of the subject identified among the top managers of the
Administration.
Furthermore, art. 2 of the same law requires state administrations to
transmit to the Prime Minister, within 31 January of every year, a report on the
total balance of the administrative charges, sustained by citizens and
companies, introduced and eliminated by regulatory deeds approved during the
preceding year, including those introduced by deeds of implementation of
European Union directives which determine higher regulatory levels than the
minimum required of the said directives, as evaluated in the relative analyses of
the impact of regulations (AIR). In the same article, it is specified that
administrative charges "are costs of procedures which citizens and companies
are held to pay to public administrations within the sphere of the administrative
proceedings, including any procedure involving the collection, processing,
transmission, conservation and production of information and documents to the
public administration".
Lastly, pursuant to art. 2 ter, when the charges introduced are higher
than those eliminated, the Government adopts, for each Administration, for the
purposes of the relative compensation, one or more regulations for the reduction
of the administrative charges sustained by the state pursuant to law.
The Community regulatory framework
No action of primary importance is envisaged on the Community front.
However, it is nevertheless deemed opportune to recall some of the main
innovations introduced into the sectors falling within the Authority's competence.
The neutrality of the network
On 19 April 2011, the Commission sent a Communication to the European
Parliament and to the Council entitled "Opening and neutrality of the internet
network in Europe". In the said provision the Commission underlined the
importance of maintaining the open nature and the neutrality of the internet,
182
repeating the commitment to reach this objective and to guarantee the
maintenance of a strong network accessible to all. The Commission maintains
that the regulations on transparency, the possibility of changing operator and
the quality of the service, which are an integral part of the new electronic
communications regulatory framework, can effectively contribute to promotion
competition in the sector; at the same time it underlines the need to wait for
national implementation before assessing whether to adopt additional, more
binding, measures for network neutrality.
Universal service
In Communication no. 735 of 23 November 2011, by which the European
Commission reported to the Parliament and the Council on the results of the
third periodic review of the content of the universal service (in compliance with
article 15 of directive 2002/22/EC), the Community governance body concluded
that at present there is no need to modify the basic architecture or the principles
of the universal service as a tool to prevent social exclusion. In particular, in the
Commission's opinion, it would not be opportune at present to include mobile
telephony within the concept of universal service, or to render obligatory at
Community level a specific broadband connection speed. However, this does not
exclude the possibility for the Member States to include access to broadband
connection in the scope of the national universal service obligations.
User protection
On 25 October 2011 directive 2011/83/EU on consumers' rights was
adopted (modifying directives 93/13/EEC and 1999/44/EC and abrogating
directives 85/577/EEC and 97/7/EC). The Member States have until 13
December 2013 for the adoption of the directive within their own respective
national legal systems. It will then be necessary to assess the impact of the
directive within the national legislation of the sector.
Frequencies
On 10 April last, the Decision of the European Parliament and of the
Council no. 243/2012/EU entered into force; it introduces a long-term
programme relative to the policy on the radio spectrum for the strategic
planning and harmonisation of the use of the spectrum in order to guarantee the
functioning of the internal market of the services and devices relative to wireless
electronic communications.
The provisions of major importance include: art. 6, paragraph 4, which
obliges the Member States to complete the authorisation procedure to allow for
the use of the 800 MHz band for broadband wireless services by 1 January 2013,
without prejudice to the possibility of extensions until 31 December 2015 for
those Member Countries which still have trans-border coordination problems;
art. 6, paragraph 8, which identifies the frequency bands for which the Member
States can authorise the transfer or the rental of the usage rights of the radio
spectrum; and art. 9, which introduces an inventory to allow for the
identification of the frequencies for which the effectiveness of the existing uses
of the radio spectrum could be improved or which could be reassigned to
guarantee more efficient use.
Roaming
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2012
In the period of reference, on 6 July 2011 the European Commission made
a final proposal - COM(2011) 402 for the adoption of the new regulation on
roaming.
The Commission's proposal introduces, first of all, the possibility for users
to chose separate contracts for telephony and for data traffic in roaming mode
within the Union. The new option, available from 2014, would allow customers to
identify a diverse provider for roaming, to be used when they leave their own
country, without changing their SIM or their mobile phone number.
The operators, in any case, would have to inform the customer of the
price of the service at the moment of his/her entrance into another Member
State, at the same time making available a simpler procedure for deactivation;
in the same way, the mechanism of protection on bills, limited to Euro 50, would
remain in force unless requested otherwise by the customer. The proposal would
also authorise the operators, including the virtual operators, to use other
networks, increasing price competition and favouring gradual price decreases.
Since the structural changes of the Commission's proposal will require
time before producing significant savings for users, the proposal also envisages,
by 1 July 2014, a progressive decrease in the present maximum retail prices for
voice services (24 cents per minute) and for SMS (10 cents) and it introduces a
new retail price ceiling for mobile data services (50 cents per megabyte to
download data or to navigate on the internet when abroad, invoiced per kilobyte
used).
The Regulation, once adopted by the European Parliament and by the
Union's Council of Ministers, will be immediately binding.
184

2. The communications sector in Italy

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