Telecom Italia Considers Changes To Fixed Spin-Off Plan

Telecom Italia CEO Luigi Gubitosi (pictured) asked regulator Agcom to postpone a review of a planned spin-off of its fixed network as the company mulls making changes to the proposal, Reuters reported.

Sources told the news website the delay is due to ongoing talks with rival Open Fiber over potentially combining the two companies’ fixed networks, a grouping the Italian state is apparently keen to encourage.

The future of Telecom Italia’s fixed network has been the source of lengthy rows with investors and government officials, with the operator finally agreeing to spin-off the business into a new entity called NetCo at a meeting in March 2018 after years of wrangling with authorities.

Once the move was agreed, the dynamics and ownership structure of the newly formed business became one of the many areas of disagreement by battling shareholders Vivendi and Elliott Management during their long-running scrap for control of the operator.

Vivendi is fully supportive of the original plan, created under its watch, whereby the operator retains full control of the company. However Elliott Management, which nominated the majority of Telecom Italia’s current board, has previously stated it favors selling a stake in the unit.

In January 2019, Agcom turned down Telecom Italia’s original proposal where it retained complete control of the company.―Mobile World Live