The Conte Government sponsors again the marriage between the networks of Tim and Open Fiber with the aim of creating a unique infrastructure that will finally be able to make a change in the country's digitization process.
There is nothing official, but the rumors and some government confirmations were enough to unleash again the game of hypotheses on national broadband, bringing the love-hate relationship between the two companies back into the spotlight.
But let's go in order. On the afternoon of 17 September, Premier Conte first met the top management of Tim, the president Fulvio Conti and the CEO Amos Genish, then the president of Open Fiber, Franco Bassanini.
Difficult to think of a simple coincidence or believe that two encounters like this, one after the other, are not related. So much so that on the basis of some indiscretions coming directly from government sources, during these face-to-face meetings topics such as the analysis of a possible integration between the Telecom network and that of Open Fiber and the sale of Sparkle, a dossier on the table of the top management of the telecommunications company.
The Conte Executive therefore puts back on the plate the hypothesis of creating a single fiber network as part of a more general project on the entire infrastructure sector. Recall that a few weeks ago, on the pages of Courier, the CEO of Open Fiber, Elisabetta Ripa, said she was available to a concept of a single network but not of a single company, a more than relevant clarification.
Tim, for his part, has already officially launched the network separation project, even if to date, there is still no certainty as to which assets will be at the center of the spin-off: copper, fibre, both?
For Sparkle instead, later Di Maio's closure on the sale on the part of Telecom, the rumors speak of a new option: Tim has already started the search for a buyer through an advisor and among the "suitable buyers" there could be Cassa Depositi e Prestiti with a view to then channeling the international submarine cables to a 'only company in the network with Open Fiber.
Among the topics covered during the two meetings there would be then frequency concessions. Always remaining in the field of rumors, Palazzo Chigi would like to review the frequency assignment system, currently divided into 55 lots between Tim, Vodafone, Wind Tre and Iliad. But the Infratel network in the "white areas" is also in "concession" assigned to Open Fiber for 20 years.
"The government is showing interest in the network and this could result in a boost for Telecom Italia shares", commented the Equita analysts, who thus confirmed the 'Buy' recommendation with a price target of 0,85 euro. The experts, however, specified: "at the moment we do not see signs of a concrete convergence" between the Telecom network and that of Open Fiber. But for the moment, theoretical convergences seem to be enough for the market, so much so the Telecom Italia stock it is placed on the podium of the Ftse Mib for the second consecutive day with an increase of 2,26% above the 56 cents level. In two days the balance is + 6,2%, a positive sign that can be welcomed with a smile in the Tim household, but which still does not erase the profound difficulties experienced in recent months also due to the internal struggle between Elliott and Vivendì: -32 % is the decline in the last 6 months, -29% the one-year performance.
It should be emphasized that the performance of the shares was also affected by the auction for 5G. After the first assignments that took place last week, the Ministry of Economic Development did not provide exact information on the best offers, but did indicate that the total value put on the plate for the 3,7 GHz frequencies rose above one billion from 786 million on the day Before.". In the meantime, yesterday's session, on the third day of the competitive improvements phase, closed with overall winning bids for 3,28 billion euros.
