In the great confusion that reigns over the fate of the Telecom Italy network, the League (first signatory the group leader in the Senate, Massimiliano Romeo) presented a new amendment which is in opposition to the one already filed by the M5S. The change, it should be remembered, is linked to the tax decree under discussion in the Senate Finance Committee.
In practice, the novelty concerns the fate of the 22.000 (approximately) Tim employees who would be "transferred" to the new network company with Open Fiber, if the spin-off and separation from service activities ever takes place. Indeed, in Northern League text a central point for the M5S is dismantled and that is the one in which reference was made to the "workforce of the separate company". The burden represented by the employees of the network (they are about half of the 48 employed by Tim) would not be counted in this way for the purposes of the Rab (regulated assets basis) or tariff incentives which would increase bills but would serve to stabilize the employment of the new network company. For the purposes of calculating the tariff, in any case delegated to the Communications Authority (Agcom), "the investment plan for the construction and maintenance of the networks" would thus be taken into account exclusively on the model of what happens for the transport and distribution companies electric.
In the sub-amendment presented by the League (article 23-bis and 23.0.300/1Furthermore, it is envisaged that Agcom may impose that the assets (of Ope Fiber on the one hand, of Telecom Italia on the other) be transferred to a company "belonging to a different company or under the control of independent third parties", not necessarily controlled by Open Fiber (the optical fiber company 50% Enel and 50% Cdp) or by Tim or their shareholders ("The Authority may indicate a scheme for any voluntary aggregation of assets relating to the access networks belonging to the various operators in a legal entity that is not vertically integrated and passive wholesale belonging to a different ownership or under the control of an independent third party"
In this very confused picture, the caution shown by the CEO of Enel Francesco Starace is understandable who, in presenting the 2019-21 business plan in Milan, expressed timid openings on the integration project, premising that it would still be appropriate to wait for the outcome of the "endless saga" that pits Tim's shareholders but also emphasizing that in the meantime Open Fiber is moving forward with 4,8 million homes connected in fiber by the end of the year and 19 million planned for 2023
