Vodafone, Telecom Italia offer rivals access to some sites to ease EU concerns

Vodafone and Telekom Italia have offered to allow rivals access to sites in some cities for up to nine years, a proposal aimed at allaying EU antitrust concerns over the creation of Italy’s largest mobile tower company, according to an EU document seen by Reuters.

The companies announced a plan last July to create Italy’s largest mobile towers group through the transfer of Vodafone’s Italian mobile masts to INWIT, TIM’s 60 percentowned subsidiary.

Once the 10 billion euro ($10.8 billion) merger is completed, TIM and Vodafone would each have a 37.5 percent stake and equal governance rights in the enlarged INWIT.

The deal includes a network sharing agreement and a partnership to roll out 5G infrastructure jointly across Italy.

For the telecoms industry, combining towers or sharing networks to reduce debt and share costs are seen as alternatives to counter EU antitrust regulators’ tough line on mergers that reduce the number of players in a market.

Under Vodafone and TIM’s proposal, INWIT would make available around 630 sites each year in towns with more than 35,000 people, allowing rivals to provide current and future mobile and fixed telephony services, said the internal EU paper.

The number of sites available will gradually decrease to just below 400 per year during the fifth year of the companies’ proposal, which would be valid for eight years.

The number of sites freed up for rivals over the eight-year period totals 4,000.

TIM and Telecom Italia both declined to comment.

The EU competition enforcer extended on Monday its deadline for a decision on the deal to March 6 from February 21.