In an emailed statement on Sunday, a Vodafone spokeswoman said Telecom Italia had committed a series of abuses from 2008 to 2013, “with the intention and effect of impeding growth in competition in the Italian fixed-line market”.
Vodafone further accuses Telecom Italia of causing a loss of custom, restricting Vodafone’s ability to grow its own fixed-line business, as well as forcing it to pay excessive costs in order to compete in the Italian market.
Telecom Italia has rejected the accusations and said it will show the “total correctness” of its behaviour, according to Reuters.
Vodafone posted a 3.5% drop in service revenue last month, and the lawsuit comes ahead of Telecom Italia’s attempted fixed-line spin-off, which itself is struggling and last month was put on hold.
