Telecoms: Italy

Vodafone officialy stated to the Competition Authority that it will take allthe necessary steps in order to sign one or more MVNOs agreements by end of March 2007.

As expected, the Italian Government started its war against the mobile recharge fee. This decision will potentially wipe off € 2 bn of revenues from MNO’s balance sheets.

The Mediterranean Nautilus Ltd. (fully owned subsidiary of Telecom Italia Sparkle) and the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (CYTA) signed an agreement today for the construction of a new ring from Cyprus to Sicily, the Minerva System.

Freenet.de AG will acquire Tiscali’s narrowband and broadband customer base in
Germany.

Telecom Italia finally defined its wholesale line rental offer to OLOs.

Italian State owned broadcaster RAI said it is co-operating with Cisco to design a new mixed-mode DVT-T and IPTV set top box.

An official report published by the National Statistic Institute analyzing the Italian telecom market in 2005 showed that 56% of mobile traffic is on-net, compared to 22% off-net and 17% to fixed lines.

Milan-based Quantum showcase today at the 3 GSM World Congress the Pocket TV QTM 1000 personal DVB-H receiver chosen by 3 Italia for its Digital Mobile TV service.

According to pro-forma preliminary results for 2006, Tiscali’s revenues in Italy stood at € 217 m, up 15% compared to 2005.