Telecom Italia Breakup of Fixed Lines Seen as Bellwether

By Chiara Remondini – Europe’s former phone monopolies, built on copper wires linking virtually every home and business in the region, are reeling from overwhelming debt, strict oversight, and slowing sales as consumers switch to mobile.

Telecom Italia SpA (TIT), which owes creditors 30 billion euros ($38 billion) — more than double its market value — is considering a way out of that conundrum: Spin off the fixed-line network into a separate company. more> http://tinyurl.com/a9s9azp

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EU sides with big telcos on fibre broadband plan

Telefonica Classical telephone.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Claire Davenport and Leila Abboud – European regulators backed away from forcing big telecom operators to charge smaller rivals less for renting space on their networks, changing tack in their efforts to spur the buildout of fibre broadband.

Large European telecom companies on Thursday (July 12) welcomed the rethink while representatives of roughly 100 alternative Internet providers complained that the change meant customers would continue to be overcharged.

Under the new proposals, companies like Telecom Italia and Telefonica will not have to lower the fees they charge for using their legacy copper networks. more> http://tinyurl.com/c9zkzrp

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T.Italia open to broadband cooperation with CDP

English: Videotelefono Telecom Italia
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Reuters – Italy‘s largest telecoms group Telecom Italia is open to working with state-owned financial agency Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to progressively roll out an ultra broadband network in Italy, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

“Whenever there is room for a public-private cooperation or with bodies like the CDP, we are extremely open,” Telecom Italia’s CEO Marco Patuano said on the margins of a conference. more> http://tinyurl.com/7vt7j3e

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Telecom Italia Considers Spinning Off Network, Bernaba

By Sonia Sirletti – Telecom Italia SpA (TIT) is studying whether to separate its fixed-access network, helping Italy’s biggest phone company raise cash to pay down debt and avoid cutting its dividend further.

A spin-off is “one of several studies” carried out, Executive Chairman Franco Bernabe told Il Sole 24 Ore, in comments confirmed by Telecom Italia. Under the plan, Telecom Italia would be “open to considering” a partnership with state-owned lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA as it builds out a high-speed Internet network, he was quoted as saying. The company would be the first incumbent European operator to spin off its network.

Vodafone Chief Executive Officer Vittorio Colao said in February that the company had offered to co-invest in fixed-line networks, and had been turned down by rival operators. The Italian market had formerly resisted open networks, he said. more> http://is.gd/96IpTe

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