Italian minister says majority shareholder cannot control broadband operator

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s single broadband network operator cannot be controlled by a majority shareholder, the deputy industry minister said on Friday, after Telecom Italia (TIM) said it would not accept less than 50% of any network.

The Italian government is trying to negotiate a deal between the phone group and Open Fiber, jointly owned by state lender CDP and utility Enel , to merge fibre assets and create a single national champion.

But progress has been delayed as it seeks solutions to governance and regulation issues.

“Under a regulatory and antitrust profile, a single network company that supplies wholesale access services to all operators cannot be in the hands of a single, vertically integrated majority shareholder, ” Stefano Buffagni told the daily La Repubblica.

He had been asked about TIM wanting to continue to be the majority shareholder of any future network.

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)