Telecom Italia’s chairman, Marco Tronchetti Provera, has resigned as the company moved to counter what he termed as the ‘unjustified personalisation’ of events surrounding its plan to spin off its mobile business. Tronchetti Provera stepped down on Friday following media criticism of his role in the telco’s planned strategic split. New chairman Guido Rossi says he intends to push forward to divide Telecom Italia’s operations into three units: wireline, wireless and media. While there has been much speculation that the group is preparing cellular unit TIM for a sale, Rossi says that this is not currently part of the firm’s plans.
Meanwhile, Angelo Rovati, an advisor to Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, has also resigned. The move, which has been reported by AFX, follows accusations that the government has been meddling in Telecom Italia’s affairs. Rovati had admitted that he was behind a government document which proposed that the state buy up Telecom Italia’s fixed line infrastructure.