The chairman of Telefonica Cesar Alierta has pledged that Telecom Italia will remain an Italian company and job cuts will be avoided, reports Reuters. Alierta’s comments follow a 29 October meeting in Rome with Italian prime minister Enrico Letta in which the Telefonica chairman sought to give a series of assurances in the wake of his company’s move to gradually buy out co-investors in Telco SpA, the holding company that owns 22.4 percent of Telecom Italia and controls its board. Alierta added that investments in technology, above all fibre-optics and 4G mobile networks, would be maintained. However, plans to spin off Telecom Italia’s network were not discussed.
The previous day Letta had also discussed investment and employment levels with Telecom Italia CEO Marco Patuano, a meeting that Patuano described as highly constructive and covering all possible angles. He said that it was now up to the government to take the decisions it considered appropriate.
The meetings could shape the strategy to be adopted at Telecom Italia’s board meeting on 07 November. With its debt rating cut to junk at the start of the month, the company is considering a series of measures including a EUR 2 billion capital increase, asset sales and a spin-off of its telephone network.
