The EC’s Directorate General for Competition said its decision on the merger of Vodafone Towers into Inwit won’t be published until 06 March at the earliest to give it time to evaluate remedies submitted by Telecom Italia (TIM) and Vodafone Italia on 14 February. The preliminary decision on the merger request was due to be announced on 21 February but the antitrust authority will now take a further 10 days to examine the proposed concessions as well as the opinion of rival companies on the competitive implications of the deal.
Last summer, TIM and Vodafone announced that they had agreed to merge their Italian mobile infrastructure under the Inwit unit that is 60 percent-owned by Telecom Italia as well as jointly rolling out 5G networks. Each will have a 37.5 percent stake and equal governance rights in the enlarged Inwit, which will be converted into the second largest tower company in Europe, with more than 22,000 sites throughout the Italian territory.
