Wind 3's appeal on the issue of free modem was rejected, one of the battles carried out by Assoprovider.

Another milestone achieved by Assoprovider. The Council of State has rejected the appeal made by Wind 3 on free modem.

The issue of free modem choice is one of the battles for fairness and transparency that our association has championed over the years. In this article, we briefly recount its history.

Why was the modem not free?

Before the complaint by our association, some large telecommunications companies forced users to choose a modem proposed by them, including, according to a very obscure practice, the cost of the device in the subscriptions, thus harming both consumers and local operators.

The complaint leads to a 2018 Agcom resolution that accepts Assoprovider's arguments and against which some telecommunications companies are filing an appeal with the Regional Administrative Court (Tar).

The Lazio Regional Administrative Court in 2020, however, rejected the appeal of Tim and Wind 3, thus offering thethe possibility for consumers to choose the modem to use, regardless of the company to which they are linked.

In 2021 Tim appeals to the Council of State, which defines "the appeal filed by Telecom Italia against the Agcom resolution on free modems as partly inadmissible and partly unfounded." Here is an article from Wired that delves into the matter.

Let's come to today: the Consiglio di Stato

Wind 3 also appeals to the Council of State, opposing the ruling of the Lazio Regional Administrative Court.

However, a choice that has not changed the regulatory framework, with the Council of State that rejected the appeal of the telephone company, confirming the validity of our association's arguments.

A decision that protects both consumers, who can continue to save by purchasing modems at more affordable prices, and also small and medium operators who can be more competitive in the market.

"The end-users have the right to use terminal equipment of their choice to access the Internet. Agreements between Internet access service providers and end-users on the commercial and technical conditions and characteristics of Internet access services such as price, data volumes, or speed, and the commercial practices adopted by Internet access service providers, do not limit the exercise of end-users' rights to use terminal equipment of their choice," reads the judgment. 
Click here to read it.