Telecom Italia freezes the Cassiopea plan which was supposed to compete with Infratel's ultra-broadband in market failure areas and launches the post-Cattaneo plan. The board of directors which will have to sanction the millionaire farewell of the managing director Flavio Cattaneo has ended in Rome, 16 months after his inauguration at the helm of the national TLC battleship. The manager left the Telecom office without attending the Board meeting or making any statements. He will leave the company with a severance pay of around 30 million based on the agreements which, according to rumors, were reached with the reference shareholder Vivendi, holder of 23,9% of the capital. Cattaneo will stay until Thursday for the approval of the half-year and the second quarter accounts, immediately afterwards a triumvirate will lead the group and to restore peace in relations with the Italian government. After the divorce, the French are therefore ready to move on with two moves: the creation of a triumvirate, which will share the powers of the outgoing CEO and which will be made up of the president Arnaud de Puyfontaine, the vice president Giuseppe Recchi and the new general manager , the Israeli Amos Gemish, and the resumption of dialogue with the Government, sanctioned by a recent meeting between the premier Paolo Gentiloni and the owner of Vivendi, Vincent Bolloré who promised not to hinder the Open Fiber programs on the fibre.
The suspension of the Cassiopea plan is a confirmation of this. The decision was anticipated by the Reuters agency, quoting a source according to which the project "has been frozen".
A second source, also reported by Reuters, adds that Tim, in the context of conversations with the Antitrust, communicated that the cabinets made so far "are not for sale", i.e. they are not operational and that at the moment the group is not assigning new shop assistants. “So it is fair to say that the plan is on hold.”
The move is clearly a soothing signal towards the government after the "short circuit" had arisen over the plan for the construction of the fiber optic network in non-commercial areas: the plan carried out with public funds and the tenders won by Open Fiber (50% Enel and 50% Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) for its construction had run into the interest relaunched surprisingly by Tim who had initially said he was not interested in those areas.
On paper, Tim's CEO's plan was to set up a newco with financial investors, which would support grid spending in disadvantaged areas.
Several observers were skeptical about the feasibility of the operation, due to the unattractive cost-benefit ratio.
Certainly, however, Telecom Italia's announcement to intervene directly could create difficulties for the Infratel plan, which presupposed the absence of private individuals and which for this very reason had been authorized by the EU.
(updated 20:08)
