Telecom Italia to Spin Off Access Network

ROME -- Company to immediately inform the Communications Regulatory Authority about the plan; the Authority is to assess its impact on the current regulatory framework. Contacts continue with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti regarding the potential acquisition of a stake.Telecom Italia’s Board of Directors chaired today by Franco Bernabè – as a result of the mandate allocated to management on 11 April to establish a feasible operational roadmap for the separation of the Telecom Italia access network - resolved to turn the access network into a separate company.The assets and resources for developing and managing the passive access network (both copper and fibre) and the active components of the fibre consisting of OLT (Optical Line Termination) and cabinet will be spun off to the new company. The new structure will guarantee all operators (OLOs and Telecom Italia) access to the fixed-line network, in application of the European-denominated “Equivalence of Input” (EoI) model of equality of treatment.The new company will offer to all operators services including Unbundling of the Local Loop (ULL) and Virtual Unbundling Line Access (VULA) for next-generation networks leveraging FTTCab and FTTH architecture.Telecom Italia SpA