Italy’s TIM ready to press ahead with unified network project

MILAN: Telecom Italia is ready to press ahead with a government-sponsored plan to merge its fixed network infrastructure with that of state-backed rival Open Fiber, Chief Executive Luigi Gubitosi said on Wednesday.

“We are ready to proceed, as soon as Open Fiber’s shareholders, I would say shareholder, takes a decision on the matter”, Gubitosi told analysts in a call on third-quarter results.

In August TIM agreed to sell to U.S. investment fund KKR a 37.5% stake of a newly created company, dubbed FiberCop, into which it is transferring its ‘last mile’ network connecting street cabinets to people’s homes.