Iliad could lease Italian fibre capacity from Enel

The chief executive of Italian utility firm Enel says his company has held preliminary negotiations with the French telco Iliad which could see Iliad utilising capacity on the nationwide fibre network which is being rolled out by the electricity group’s Enel Open Fiber (EOF) unit. ‘There has been some contact … They are in a process of deciding what they want to do … these are just initial talks,’ Enel CEO Francesco Starace told Reuters. In its domestic market Iliad is active in both the fixed line and mobile sectors, and a deal with EOF could see it replicate that business model when it eventually launches in Italy. Iliad has already agreed to pay EUR450 million (USD510 million) to acquire mobile network and spectrum assets from Wind and 3 Italia, which are planning to merge.