In recent days, the media reported an open front of Agcom towards the Government regarding an alleged unsustainability of the conditions for participation in calls for tenders for the creation of ultra-broadband connections of the smaller islands.
In this regard, the Commissioner of the Authority for Guarantees in Communications, Elisa Giomi, declares today in a note: "AGCOM has never opened dossiers aimed at evaluating the contents of the Government notices". Giomi then underlined: "It goes without saying that the statements made by one of the members do not affect the Authority in any way. All the more so when criticism is made of government action through the use of suggestive images such as the 'sound dangerous of an insistent alarm bell ', totally inappropriate by virtue of the fact that by statute AGCOM is required not to interfere with the political initiatives of the Government ".
"In tenders relating to the disbursement of public funds, AGCOM does not normally have to intervene upstream in the correct definition of tenders but downstream of them, to guarantee all operators access on fair and reasonable conditions to the networks created by the winners of the tender procedures "continues Giomi. "It therefore seems inexplicable that on issues that instead fully invest the Authority in terms of competence, such as the guidelines approved in the session of 16 December 2021 for the Conditions of wholesale access to ultra-broadband networks receiving public contributions, the body decision maker of Agcom was able to examine the related documentation in just three days, without granting any postponement and without further possibility of comparison,while the findings of the operators involved in the public consultation were examined in depth ".
"Only an independent Authority that carries out a credible oversight function for transparency, impartiality and efficiency, without interfering or overlapping with politics, will be able to guarantee in this historical context the correct use of PNRR funds and the correct conduct of public tenders, to protect all operators and the collective interest ", finally concluded the Commissioner.
