ITALY OPTING FOR SINGLE TELECOMS NETWORK

The government on Thursday held a summit in Rome on plans to create a single telecoms network in Italy, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on August 28, 2020.

Premier Giuseppe Conte, Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri and Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli met delegation chiefs from the ruling majority including the 5-Star Movement (M5S), the Democratic Party (PD), Italia VIva (IV) and Free and Equal (LeU).

Talks on setting up the single telecoms network in Italy are speeding up. Phone company TIM managing director Luigi Gubitosi met with Fabrizio Palermo, , which owns 50% of the Open Fiber firm. The discussion is aimed at forging a strategy to create a single network, sources said.

Further talks are expected ahead of a TIM board meeting on Monday. TIM shares soared over 5% on the Milan bourse Wednesday. Telecoms trade unions Slc Cgil, Fistel Cisl and Uilcom Uil have asked Premier Conte to table talks with them too. They voiced opposition to a public network on the Open Fiber model. "This task can be carried out by TIM," they said, with CDP taking a bigger stake in the telecoms group.