Italian operators Vodafone, Wind Telecommunicazioni and
Italian operators Vodafone, Wind Telecommunicazioni and
The two cellcos and dark fibre provider had signed a non-binding letter of intent that was due to expire on 31 December.
The move comes as Telecom Italia (BIT:TIT) has renewed efforts to join forces with Metroweb, as it attempts to play a leading role in the country’s €12bn high-speed broadband plan.
Earlier this year, after failing to reach a deal to buy the Milan-based group, Telecom Italia said it did not wish to be part of a joint fibre effort. Wind and Vodafone, which said they would like to work with the incumbent, then went ahead with the non-binding letter of intent.
In an interview with Il Sole 24 Ore, Wind CEO Maximo Ibarra reiterated several times that the potential partners would still prefer to work alongside Telecom Italia, but that they would go ahead with their own plans regardless.
Asked whether a consortium could function without the incumbent, Ibarra said: “I would say yes. Adding up the market share of Vodafone and Wind-Infostrada, we cover over 35% of [Italy’s] main cities.”
Wind, he pointed out, already partners with Metroweb in Milan, Torino and Bologna, with plans to extend this to another ten major cities.
Ibarra said Wind is also willing to work with utility Enel, which has offered its infrastructure as a means to host fibre optic cables.
In August, Hutchison Whampoa (SEHK:0001) and Vimpelcom (NASDAQ:VIP) agreed to a €21.8bn Italian joint venture, due to be reviewed by European competition authorities.
Metroweb is owned by Fastweb (10.6%) and Metroweb Italia (87%), which is itself owned by infrastructure fund F2i (54%) and CDP’s Fondo Strategico Italiano (46.2%). F2i’s stake was last year assigned a valuation of €300m.
In 2011, Intesa Sanpaolo-owned IMI Investimenti and F2i acquired Metroweb from A2A and Stirling Square Capital Partners, valuing the company at €436m (US$628m), or an enterprise value of over 10x EBITDA.