Italian operator Fastweb has announced a deal to acquire 40 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band owned by Tiscali's fully owned subsidiary Aria as well as Tiscali’s Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) branch for a total of EUR 150 million. The FWA branch includes infrastructure in the form of 836 towers and 34 FTEs. At the same time, Tiscali has entered into a wholesale agreement with Fastweb to gain full access to its fibre-based network infrastructure and the FWA infrastructure acquired. As a result, Tiscali will continue to provide LTE FWA services to its customers in digital divide areas while accessing Fastweb fibre coverage to increase the nationwide scope of its fixed line offer from 8 million to 18 million households.
In a statement Fastweb said the ability to secure long-term access to valuable 3.5 GHz spectrum serves to strengthen its fixed-mobile convergent strategy and allows it to quickly deploy a 5G network in the major Italian cities. The operator will also be using Tiscali's fixed-wireless LTE network to focus on providing high performing fixed wireless connectivity to customers in extended digital-divide areas.
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and will be funded from the company’s own resources, added Fastweb, which acquired Tiscali’s business unit back in December 2016.
