MILAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Italy's antitrust watchdog has opened...

MILAN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Italy's antitrust watchdog has opened an inquiry into Autostrade per l'Italia over whether the motorway group had abused its dominant position in electronic toll collections, thus hampering holding group Unipol's UNPI.MI entry in that lucrative market.

The probe follows a complaint by UnipolTech, a unit of Unipol, which alleged that Autostrade, through its role as part of the AISCAT association of Italian toll concession companies, may have used its dominant position to make it more difficult for new entrants to secure access to contracts.

With help from the financial police, the antitrust watchdog carried out inspections at the offices of Autostrade and AISCAT on Tuesday, it said in a statement.

Autostrade said in a statement it had always operated "with the utmost transparency, in full compliance with the regulations in force and without any preclusion to the entry of new operators on the electronic toll collection market", adding it was cooperating with the watchdog on the matter.

Under its latest business strategy, Unipol, which also controls insurer UnipolSai US.MI , has said it would invest in technology to develop its 'mobility' business, targeting 2 million customers for its electronic toll collection device called UnipolMove by 2024.

Autostrade, formerly part of infrastructure group Atlantia ATL.MI , was sold in May to a consortium which includes Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and investment funds Blackstone BX.N and Macquarie (MQG) .