Telecom Italia happy to work with watchdog on Metroweb deal

The CEO of Telecom Italia (TI), Marco Patuano, has denied that his firm is looking to create a monopoly by moving to acquire a stake in domestic fibre network operator Metroweb. TI has expressed an interest in bidding for a stake in Metroweb which is being sold by investment fund F2i, but rival telco Vodafone Italy has written to the competition watchdog AGCM calling on it to block the deal as it would lead to ‘elimination and/or long-term reduction of competition’. For its part, the AGCM has stated that any deal between TI and Metroweb would be subject to stringent conditions. According to Telecompaper, Patuano has said he is happy to work with regulators to push the deal through: ‘We are ready to discuss it and to extend the principle of equality of input to the fibre sector as well.’ The executive added that TI spends around EUR3 billion (USD3.7 billion) each year, with EUR2.5 billion of that on infrastructure.