Telecom Italia (TIM) is open to talks with wholesale-only operator Open Fiber about merging their respective fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) assets, said the company's CEO Amos Genish in a briefing. “We are more than open ... to participate in a dialogue on such a combination,” said Genish. However, according to an unnamed source cited by Reuters, TIM has already spoken about the idea to the shareholders of Open Fiber, state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) and utility giant Enel. “The ball is in Open Fiber’s court, we are willing to sit down with them,” said the source.
The prospects of any tie-up now depend on CDP’s new management, which is due to be reshuffled following the recent change of government in Italy, said the source, adding that TIM’s idea is that the combined FTTH entity could gain a regulated asset base (RAB) status. A RAB-based scheme allows operators to get regulated returns on investments they make in the infrastructure on top of fixed tariffs.
The news about a potential tie-up comes after CDP acquired a stake in TIM for strategic reasons back in April. Politicians and rival operators have long been calling for the creation of a single national network via the merger of Open Fiber with TIM’s soon to be separated fixed network (NetCo) but the report indicates that TIM isn’t currently interested in combining its entire network infrastructure with that of Open Fiber because a larger entity would be unlikely to be granted RAB status.
