Italy’s Competition and Markets Authority (Autorita Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato, AGCM) has closed its investigation into the Flash Fiber tie-up between Telecom Italia (TIM) and Fastweb. The venture, established in July 2016, aims to deploy jointly-owned fibre networks in 29 Italian cities, and the AGCM has now ruled that the proposals put forward by the pair do not restrict or distort competition in the broadband access market.
Separately, the investment firm Elliott Advisors has confirmed that it has increased its stake in TIM to 8.8%, with options to raise this to around 13.7%. The activist investor is looking to reduce the control of French firm Vivendi at TIM; the telco’s board resigned last month, with a new board to be chosen at a forthcoming shareholders meeting. Vivendi has a 23.9% stake in TIM.