The super-fast fiber optic network is once again at the center of the major telecommunications operations. And with results that could be sensational: such as the possibility that Open Fiber (OF) will buy Tim's new network. There is no doubt that the latest moves were triggered by the acceleration impressed by the company controlled by Enel and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (Cdp), led by Elisabetta Ripa, which is carrying out coverage of Italy at an intensive pace, not only in the most commercially attractive areas (A and B) but also in those with market failure (C and D). It is an escalation that has also prompted Tim to speed up the pace and reverse his position with respect to the development of the new network within a few months. Just yesterday, Monday, Tim got the new site up and running (https://rete.gruppotim.it/) which updates in real time on the development of coverage, and on the ways in which it occurs, of the former monopolist.
It will also be because the CEO Amos Genish must keep a balance between the demands of the new shareholder Elliott, after the turnaround that brought Fulvio Conti and Luigi Gubitosi to the board, and those of Vivendi, who remained the first shareholder but with a minority representation on the board ; then it will be because it is in Genish's interest to gain credit also with the new government in favor of unifying the new network under construction into a single entity; finally, it will be because the line of Franco Bassanini (former president of the Cdp and current president of Open Fiber - that of a single national network, separated from the operators but which provides wholesale connections to all - is the most rational and efficient from the point of cost savings.Or it will be all of these things together, but it is certain that the scenario has completely changed compared to a few months ago.
To begin with, Tim - who previously didn't want to hear about sharing the network with anyone - opened up about the spin-off of his own network and then about the possibility of alliances while retaining control. The next and very recent step was the birth of Flash Fiber (80% Tim, 20% Fastweb) which copies the Open Fiber model and aims, i.e. to build the fiber network and then lease the connections primarily to its shareholders but also to others operators, to the extent that there is excess capacity for the needs of the two partners. The novelty is that, while Tim has always maintained that the FTTC (Fiber to the cabinet) network model was feasible, with Flash Fiber he instead steered exclusively to FTTH (Fiber to the home), the only one able to guarantee connections from 1 Gigabit per second.
But what can happen now? Enel has said over and over that it is not interested in a merger with other operators. And Elisabetta Ripa, in total harmony with Franco Bassanini who has always supported it, confirms that the role of Open Fiber is to be "third party" compared to operators and indeed to have as its mission the activity of reselling ultra-fast wholesale connections to anyone request. So? The way out, which would not be disliked by Enel's top management, remains only one: the purchase of the Telecom Italia fiber network by OF.
However, one final consideration remains to be made: Open Fiber, with its acceleration, has connected 3,1 million homes in FTTH and expects to wire 4 million by the end of the year, advancing at a rate of 35 new homes connected per week and with a ramification that touches the big centers as well as the small ones. Flash Fiber is far behind if it is true that it can only count on a million wired homes to its credit. Tim has published his data: 2,3 million homes connected in FTTH in 30 major cities at the end of 2017 (including the million of Flash Fiber). In practice there is a discrete gap between the two big names and this gap also has repercussions on industrial plans. It's a real race against time and time, as they say, is running out. Especially since Open Fiber plans to close the 3,5 billion jumbo loan by the end of the month. And it will give wings to the industrial plan.
Finally, a surprise: on the Tim site, the provinces that generate the most traffic are Naples, Crotone and Palermo, followed by Prato, Syracuse, Brindisi, Reggio Calabria, Foggia, Catania and Taranto. The South sails more than the North.
