Enel open to Metroweb deal

The head of the Italian state-owned utility firm Enel has said his company would be open to buying into fibre network operator Metroweb. According to a report from First Online, Enel’s CEO Francesco Starace said that taking a stake in Metroweb is ‘one of the options’ open to Enel, which is looking to cooperate with Italian telcos on the deployment of a nationwide fibre broadband network. Starace did add, however, that Enel would not get into a bidding war with Telecom Italia, which has been in negotiations for some time concerning the possible acquisition of a stake in Metroweb. Starace also stated that Enel has no plans to enter the telecoms market as a retail provider and is only looking to partner with telcos to deploy infrastructure alongside its electricity grid.