AGCOM's telecom oversight in Italy spotlights tower dispute and surging mobile data use

The Italian communications regulator AGCOM has opened a consultation on the renewal of mobile‑frequency licences that will expire in 2029, proposing an automatic, non‑costly extension to 2037 in exchange for 5G investment commitments. The draft document does not mention the ongoing dispute over tower usage between the major operators Tim, Fastweb and Vodafone and the tower company INWIT, which is negotiating the Master Service Agreement that underpins the infrastructure needed for those frequencies. Regulators have been asked how service continuity can be guaranteed when the relationship between operators and the country’s primary tower owner remains unsettled.

Separately, AGCOM’s observatory reported that average daily mobile data traffic per human SIM in Italy reached 1.10 GB in the first quarter of 2026. Total download traffic summed to 5.13 Exabyte, a 21.7 % increase over the same period in 2025, while upload traffic rose to 0.53 Exabyte, up 27.1 % year‑on‑year, underscoring rapid growth in mobile data consumption.