Salvatore Rossi and Luigi Gubitosi received confirmation at the top of Tim for another three years with a small plebiscite: 95% of adhesions in the assembly of the group on March 31, convened on appointments and financial statements. A signal of appreciation by the market for the entire Board. Twenty-four hours later, the group announced that FiberCop, the company of Tim's secondary network that will have to accelerate the transition from copper to fiber optics, is operational. On the same evening as the meeting, the shares in the KKR fund and Fastweb were transferred, as envisaged in the agreement signed last August 31st.
FiberCop can now count on a fully empowered board of directors - Massimo Sarmi as president and Cardo Filangeri as CEO - and made up of nine members: five appointed by Tim (58% of the capital), three by Kkr (37,5%) and one by Fastweb ( 4,5%).
March therefore ends with a double result for the Rossi-Gubitosi ticket, determined to accelerate the expansion of the FTTH fiber network (up to homes) with a target of 76% of real estate units reached by 2025 in gray and black areas. A capital increase will not be necessary to carry out the works envisaged in the company's business plan. Tim itself, which collected 1,8 billion from Kkr, can count on the necessary funds to support the project. For the white areas - those that are off the market and where public tenders are being made - a new consultation is expected between May and June in order to define which areas remain uncovered by the operators' investment plans and then proceed with the tenders.
In the background, the question of the single network remains unresolved. Open Fiber will change shareholders by the end of the year: Enel has received a binding offer from Macquarie for its 50%: 2,65 billion. Cassa Depositi – which currently holds the remaining 50% – should become the majority and at the same time find itself having to manage about 10% of Tim in which it is a shareholder. Kkr has valued FiberCop's equity at 4,7 billion, a price lower than what Macquarie is willing to pay for OF, valued overall at 5,3 billion.
The skein of the single network remains entangled and will be up to Vittorio Colao, Minister of Innovation, find the exit point. Italy is lagging behind on fast digital coverage compared to other European countries and the minister wants to speed up the time to reach the - ambitious - goal of connections at 1 Gigabit per second by 2026: "We therefore cannot afford to remain in a long-awaited situation, which risks influencing the plans - and therefore the times - of coverage of the ultra-broadband networks financed also with the resources of the Pnrr", said the minister in the recent question time - again on 31 March - in the Chamber . “Consistent with the commitment made to this courtroom last July 20, an assessment of the current situation is therefore being carried out - with reference to the issue of the so-called "single network" - which allows investment plans to be launched, to make up for the accumulated delays and achieve European objectives", he concluded Colao.
