Italian mobile operator Wind Telecom is open to integrating with smaller operators in Italy, according to reports citing Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris.
Sawiris’ Weather Investments holding group owns 18.2% of VimpelCom, which has a stake of more…
Italian mobile operator Wind Telecom is open to integrating with smaller operators in Italy, according to reports citing Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris.
Sawiris’ Weather Investments holding group owns 18.2% of VimpelCom, which has a stake of more than 50% in Wind. Sawiri was quoted telling journalists on 11 July that such integration was being considered with local telcos 3 Italia, Tiscali and Fastweb.
No concrete plans have been made, but there are opportunities for creating synergies with those companies, Sawiris reportedly said, without elaborating further.
This is not the first time that Sawiris has been interested in consolidating the Italian market. Historically keen to become more involved in the European market, Sawiris several years ago was looking at ways to combine the operations of Wind and 3 in Italy. The two groups made significant progress in combining their tower operations for an eventual sale, but talks eventually collapsed – mainly due to the difficulty of valuing their tower portfolios.
During the same news conference, reports cite Sawiris calling on the Italian government to postpone September’s 4G auction until the country’s current economic crisis is settled.
The government plans to raise a minimum E3.1bn from the sale of its mobile frequencies, but Sawiris reportedly warned that this is unlikely to be achieved this if the auction goes ahead as planned this year.
Some 300 MHz of new spectrum, freed up as part of the Digital Dividend, is being offered to existing mobile operators Telecom Italia, Vodafone Italia, Wind and 3 Italia, as well as to new entrants.
