23.11. 95 ‘Official Journal of the European Communities No L 280/49 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 4 October 1995 concerning the conditions imposed on the second . operator of GSM radiotelephony services in Italy (Only the Italian text is authentic) (95/489/EC) THE COMMISSION OF T]-iE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, ‘and in particular Article 90 (3) thereof, Having given the Italian authorities, by letter of 3 January 1995, and Telecom Italia SpA, by letter of 30 January 1995, notice to submit their comments on the Commis- sion’s objections to the intitial payment imposed on Omnitel Pronto Italia, Whereas : THE FACTS The national measure in question (1) The Italian Government has imposed an initial payment for the grant of a second concession for the establishment and operation on Italian territory of a network for the provision of a public mobile radiotelephony service using the pan-European digital system, GSM (global system for mobile communications). This requirement was laid down in the specifications and does not apply to the public operator, Telecom Italia. The undertaking and services concerned (20  Telecom Italia SpA is controlled by the Societa Torinese Esercizi Telefoni (STET), which owns 55 % of its capital. STET is in its turn controlled by the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) @) and thus by the Italian Government. Telecom Italia thus constitutes a ‘public undertaking’ within the meaning of Article 90 (1). In terms of its turnover, Lit 26 700 billion, Telecom Italia is the sixth largest telecommunica- tions operator in. the world. It has a workforce of 101 000 employees and over 25 million subscribers. | When Telecom Italia was set up in August 1994, it took over the exclusive rights to operate the public telecommunications network and the voice tele- phony service granted to Societa Italiana per U'Eser- cizio Telefonico (SIP) in 1984 for a period of 20 years. Cellular digital mobile telephony complying with the GSM standard has been developed recently in Europe and enables subscribers both to send and to receive calls anywhere in the Community, as well as in some other European countries. This system, which used digital technology, a compact tele- phone and a subscriber identity module card, has greater potential than traditional analogue radiote- lephony systems. Digital technology provides higher quality, high-speed data transmission and encryption enhancing the. confidentiality of communications, and is more economical in its use of frequencies than analogue systems. Furthermore, the GSM system is based on common Community standards regarding common frequency bands approved at Community level and, unlike analogue systems which are often incompatible from one Member State to another, has the makings of one