Italy clears KKR purchase of stake in Telecom Italia network: La Repubblica

ROME: The Italian government has given approval to U.S. investment firm KKR to buy a minority stake in Telecom Italia’s (TIM) secondary grid – the last-mile, copper and fibre network linking to customers’ homes–daily La Repubblica reported on Wednesday.

The move could be significant because it could pave the way to an Italian treasury-sponsored plan to create a single network champion in the country.

TIM previously postponed a decision over selling 37.5% of its secondary grid to KKR after the government requested time to negotiate a merger of its network assets with smaller rival Open Fiber to create a single fast broadband network.