Telecoms: Italy

Telecom Italia has entered an agreement with Metroweb to expand its fiber-optic network in and around Milan. The agreement will give Telecom Italia access to 70,000 buildings, partly through Metroweb’s network infrastructure, originally built by Milan’s municipality to support Fastweb in its early days.

The contract, which includes an investment of approximately €50 million and the right to use the infrastructure for 15 years (renewable for a further 15 years), is part of Telecom Italia’s plan to develop its next-generation broadband network (NGN2), which, starting from the city of Milan, is scheduled to be rolled out across Italy.
Metroweb was sold by the Milan municitaly in a controversial transaction to a private-equity fund and its management earlier this year.