Telecom Italy is more than ever in the spotlight. On the Stock Exchange, the stock opened this morning at rise of 2,6% – well above the performance of the price list but then decreased – on the rumors of an interest from the French of Orange bounced across the ocean. But it is above all the countdown on the government's project for ultra-broadband, which will be presented tomorrow in the Council of Ministers, that keeps attention high.
At stake is the "Ring" plan (New Generation Internet Network) which, according to advances circulated in the press, accelerates the transition from the copper to the fiber network.
The match with Orange
Over the weekend, the CEO of Orange Stephane Richard spoke, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, of "exchanges of points of view" between the managers of the two companies for a possible alliance, while Telecom's communication men deny the existence of talks. In statements taken by the Wall Street Journal at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Richard speaks instead of "pure internal discussion" on the issue. “We're thinking about it, I think it would be an interesting operation,” says the manager.
The result is that the share has reached a year-high of 1,11 euros this morning. Volumes are equal to just over a third of last month's average for the entire session, while the Stoxx of the sector in Europe rises by 0,39%.
The Renzi Plan
But the rumors, and Orange's statements, come within twenty-four hours of government decisions on the strong revival of broadband in Italy with a financing plan of 6 billion public, drawn from European funds. And although the prime minister has assured that there will be no leaps forward or dirigiste measures, given that Telecom is a private group listed on the Stock Exchange until proven otherwise, the declared intention of the executive is to push to ensure 85% of Italians a coverage of 100 Mega by 2020. "We need broadband like bread" Renzi clarified in a very simple but certainly effective way.
The question is: how, then, to achieve the goal? In recent days, two different "schools" have faced each other: according to the plan prepared by Raffaele Tiscar and on the table of the Ministry of Development, the copper switch off (the "switching off" of the old twisted pair for the benefit of the new fiber infrastructure) is planned in over the next 15 years (up to 2030 and with intermediate milestones). The new network would also be designed on the FTTB-FTTH model, ie with the fiber arriving directly at the building. But there are those, like the former CEO of Luxottica and now Renzi's advisor at Palazzo Chigi, who believe a softer solution is preferable.
Palazzo Chigi stops indiscretionsi
“In terms of ultra-broadband, the draft documents, or presumed drafts, which are anticipated in these hours, do not correspond to the text that the government will discuss on Tuesday at the Council of Ministers”, Palazzo Chigi announced, defining each anticipation as “false”. the text, it is announced, will be available from Tuesday afternoon. For this reason, "since it is a particularly sensitive topic", the same sources explain that they are sticking to "official documents".
It is worth remembering that thehypothesis of a decree it was rejected by the Undersecretary for Development, Antonello Giacomelli. The government could therefore take time analyzing, tomorrow, only the plan to encourage ultra-broadband, however relevant with its 6 billion dowry. Or it could decide yes by decree but without setting specific dates. The second hypothesis is less probable.
Renzi will certainly give a signal of progress. There are no doubts, from a technical point of view, about the need and urgency of catching up on Italy's long-standing delay, bringing up the rear of all EU and OECD statistics on the use of broadband. But the decisions will have to take into account the fact that Telecom is private and listed. The company has made no secret of fearing, from the Ring plan as initially outlined, a negative impact of 1 billion a year on the start-up of the network (in the balance sheet at 15 billion, of which 11, in fact, for goodwill).
The Metroweb match
There are those who see in the background, through the Ring plan, the attempt to bring Telecom Italia back to the negotiating table with Metroweb, after the decision announced by Patuano and Recchi to close the negotiations. Metroweb, a company 46,2% controlled by CDP, already has fiber in Milan and has the right structure to knock on the EU funds needed to bring Internet to 100 megabytes per second in almost the whole country by 2020. But the making it the vehicle through which to build the new fiber infrastructure has run aground on the control node so much that Telecom has decided to go it alone, accelerating investments in the 2015-17 industrial plan recently presented in London which envisages spending of 3 billion on fiber over the three-year period. And there are those who link the match on the NGN (Next generation network) also to the events of Rai Way and Mediaset, at loggerheads over the purchase of the transmission towers. Television (perhaps with Netflix), Internet, fibre: this is where the increasingly integrated future of communications passes.
