The operators have in the last few weeks offered to give rivals access to some of their infrastructure for up to 9 years to address EU antitrust concerns. This included making available between 400 and 630 sites annually in towns with more than 35,000 people to allow rivals to provide current and future mobile and fixed telephony services, according to an EU document seen by Reuters.
When the EUR 10 billion merger is complete, TIM and Vodafone will each have a 37.5 percent stake and equal governance rights in the enlarged Inwit, which will have more than 22,000 sites throughout the Italian territory. Vodafone said it expects the transaction to generate synergies of over EUR 800 million and incremental proceeds of over EUR 1 billion while TIM said it likewise expected synergies of over EUR 800 million as well as an annual EUR 200 million improvement in EBITDA by 2026 and a EUR 1.4 billion debt reduction over time.
The partners also pledged to enter into a 3-year lock-up agreement for their respective stakes and consider cutting their stakes in the merged entity to 25 percent by opening the venture to others, a process that appears to have already begun.
