TIT Telecom Italia SpA

By Giulia Petroni

Telecom Italia SpA said late Monday that it has reached an agreement with U.S. investment firm KKR Infrastructure and Fastweb to form a new co-investment project called FiberCop, aiming to create a national ultrafast broadband network.

The new entity, of which Telecom Italia will hold 58%, KKR Infrastructure 37.5% and Fastweb 4.5%, "will offer passive access services of the secondary copper and fibre networks to all operators," the Italian telecommunications company said.

KKR is investing 1.8 billion euros ($2.1 billion) for its stake in the project. Telecom Italia's secondary network, along with the fibre network developed by FlashFiber--the joint venture between TIM and Fastweb--will be transferred to FiberCop.

The operation is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021 and is subject to the authorization of competent authorities.

Telecom Italia also said the board of directors has approved a preliminary deal with CDP Equity to integrate FiberCop in a wider project to form a single national network company through the merger of FiberCop and Open Fiber. Under the terms of the agreement, Telecom Italia will own at least 50.1% of the entity.

A due diligence process is expected by the end of the year, according to the company. The aim is to reach a merger agreement, which is subject to approvals, by the end of the first quarter of 2021 "at the latest."

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 01, 2020 02:26 ET (06:26 GMT)

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