Sunday 28 October 2007

OWNED BY THE STATE

(ANSA) - Rome, October 26 - Italy's Antitrust authority is investigating to see whether former state monopoly Telecom Italia abused its dominant market position in the battle for voice and broadband internet clients...read more HERE:

This is the first post to my new added category/label - Italian Mode. Its where I want to share the latest news, issues, trivia and anything Italian.

To name a few to some of the companies owned by the state, aside from other businesses which they hold the greater share of stocks:

1. Telecom Italia - It is responsible for all our telecommunications here including the Internet.
2. TrenItalia - train transportation.
3. RaiTV - TV stations which every household has to compulsory pay 109 euros yearly.
4. BancoPosta - a bank at the same time the post office. Its where we go pay our bills for the city services.
5. Alitalia - airlines
6. etc...

Going back to the Telecom Italia article, my 2 sisters Danica and Noeda bought 2 cellphones that are in promo: From the price of 185 euros, you get 2 cellphones for 50 euros instead, provided, you switch your existing Wind(a rival company)number into Vodafone(Telecom Italia). The phone number remains and Telecom Italia will do the work in maneuvering the technicalities.

After a day my sister Noeda received a call from Wind and was asked why she switched to Vodafone. She told her about the promo and they offered my sister a 160 euros worth of load just to go back to the original company - Wind. So, my sister took the offer.

Next thing you know, Telecom It/Vodafone called too and asked my sister why the change of mind again. She told them about the free load and they matched the offer with the tip of finishing first the free load and go back to Vodafone after. My sister declined the double-crossing and stayed with Wind.

Things they do to maintain monopoly and power. Well, that's business for them and anything goes but I say Antitrust authority will have a headache in concluding this case. Being the "state" would mean they are one step (if not ten) ahead - It applies everywhere, sad to say.

Why the government owned businesses for this entry? It caught my curiosity or perhaps my day dreaming of it's applicability to the Philippine setting. I don't want to elaborate more as corruption will say it all.

5 comments:

Anonymous

hi lovelyn, interesting post category you added in here. that will give us bits and pieces of Italian life :)
Back home, they also had a similar promo - switching from one carrier to the other - but i don't remember any news about one calling the subscriber to check why he/she shifted to the rival network or so.
hmmnnn, they really did that there? nah, looks like there's really a tight competition running out there. are they the only major carriers?

lovelyn

Ciao Jane, we've got three major companies:Telecom It, Fastweb and Wind. But, there are also some small ones like Tim, Tele2 and others.

yeah, they really gave noeda that amount of load. its like 2 months of free call and she phones back home almost everyday. naibusan dan ti ibaga dyay pilipinas.

guess telecom wants monopoly so as to dictate what they want. competition between these business benefits us, the consumers. adsl used to be = per hour rate, now you may have it with a fixed monthly rate for unlimited use. ours is 29 euros/monthly and there's a new promo of telecom which is cheaper = 9 euros/mo only.

thanks.

Anonymous

we just got one cell sis for 29 instead of paying it for 185.I was not suppose to say yes for the offer if i was the one who answered the phone,my husband did.They had given me 150 euro load,3mos freecall to all wind,6mos activation of 6cents per min to call any number and a 1 year activation of 10cents per min to call your country.
Include also the boat and the buses,that everytime they will have a strike,surely their demands will always be granted.

Jane

wow, that's really something appealing to consumers especially for foreigners like you. i can imagine the joy of being able to call home daily without worrying about the phone bills. at least you were able to enjoy it, hihihi.

lovelyn

Matsay,

Its even cheaper pay gayam. Hehehe, Like Irven, I would do the same!

About the strike and buses, I'll be doing that on another blog. The Abunamento would be an interesting topic.

Thanks for the additional info. We're thinking on switching to wind also.
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Yeah Jane,

Inggit nga ako noon e but Noeds would call me up after she spoke with anybody at home. Relay the chicka kumbaga :-)

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