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Here are all the clashes between the government, Tim and Open Fiber

4 years ago babelfish

Here are all the clashes between the government, Tim and Open Fiber

Skin tensions after the tough interview by Gubitosi (Tim) in Repubblica. The government with Patuanelli (with very little institutional tones) says no to Tim's control of the single network. Open Fiber replies to Gubitosi. And analysts identify the real nodes of the dispute. Facts and insights

There is no hypothesis that Tim falls below 50.1% "and" it would not make sense "even to be a majority in the capital but a minority in the board of directors:" Instead, we can think of governance corrections, such as qualified majorities for some decisions " . These words today of Tim's CEO, Luigi Gubitosi, who in fact reiterated the position of the former Telecom Italia group, sent the Minister of Economic Development, Stefano Patuanelli (M5s) into a rage, who hissed at Ansa: "The single network is made by the State". A 5-star torpedo that follows that of the founder of the pentastellato Movement Beppe Grillo, who in recent days on his post had not spared more or less direct criticism of Tim .

Here is the news and the tensions of the day, with the position also of Open Fiber and the report of the Equita analysts.

WHAT GUBITOSI SAID ABOUT TIM.

Tim “will give ultra-broadband to all of Italy, with or without Open Fiber. And it will keep the majority of a single company in the network, which is logical. We are the natural candidate to create an infrastructure that meets the country's digitization needs, even stronger after the blockade linked to the Covid-19 emergency ". Luigi Gubitosi, CEO of Tim, said this in an interview today with the newspaper la Repubblica . “Being connected, today more than ever, also means safeguarding social cohesion,” he explained. The Tim board “will decide on the creation of FiberCop, that is the company of the secondary network, and on the entry into that company of Fastweb and Kkr. Then we will evaluate whether we have reached a convergence on how this operation can flow into the broader design of a single network. I hope we can reach it by August 31st. But in any case we will always be available, under the right conditions, to find an agreement even afterwards ”, underlined the head of the company of the former Telecom Italia. The single network "would make it possible to develop a more efficient infrastructure capable of responding quickly to Italy's growing digitalization needs" and "would offer important savings and synergies". But “when thinking about the single network we must consider that the Tim network is among the best in Europe”. By the end of the year “we will have connected 75% of the population of the white areas, ie those still without broadband, and 90% of the Italian population. This will allow a significant reduction of the "digital divide" and to no longer have Serie A and Serie B citizens in the ultra-broadband ". Open Fiber "is three years behind in its investment programs" while Tim "has shown that he is meeting his commitments". In the case of a single network, the difference in size "between Tim and Open Fiber is a fact, so there is no hypothesis that Tim falls below 50.1%" and "it would not make sense" even to be a majority in the capital but in the minority on the board of directors: "We can instead think of governance corrections, such as qualified majorities for some decisions". Tim is an infrastructure company and “we have no interest in selling the network, which is the heart of any“ incumbent ”, and transforming it into a mere financial participation”.

THE POSITION OF PATUANELLI

"The single network is made by the State". Thus the minister of economic development Stefano Patuanelli questioned by Ansa on the network dossier after the statements of the CEO. by Tim Gubitosi who in an interview reiterated the group's desire to maintain management control. The State, in Patuanelli's words, can only be understood as the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance), given that the CDP is a 50% shareholder like Enel in Open Fiber and is 9.89% by Tim. So the words of the pentastellato minister mean that the CDP will definitively take over the Rete Unica project? Certainly not everyone in the government and the companies concerned appreciated the dry reaction of the grillino at the head of the department of economic development.

THE REPLICA OF OPEN FIBER

But Gubitosi's interview with Repubblica has also made Open Fiber furious. “We find yet another interview by Tim's CEO all focused on talking (badly) about another company (Open Fiber). At the same time, Dr. Gubitosi attributes delays and inefficiencies of his company to previous managements, of which however he does not want to talk (and here – strangely – a British fair play re-emerges) ”. With a note, Open Fiber replies to an interview released today by the CEO Luigi Gubitosi to la Repubblica . “We are caught by the suspicion, certainly unfounded, that Open Fiber is an excellent opportunity not to touch on uncomfortable issues at home, which perhaps deserve greater analytical and in-depth attention. Open Fiber is not responsible for its results and its accounts to Dr. Gubitosi but to its shareholders and to the pool of 14 primary banks that finance it ”, adds the note.

THE EQUITA REPORT

" Tim's positions on the issue of governance of the single network are still far from those expressed by Open Fiber through the voice of President Bassanini, while highlighting some proposals that go in the direction of offering additional guarantees to the government on investment commitments", underline the analysts di Equita, on the day in which the Tim stock was in negative territory. “There is therefore uncertainty at the moment about the feasibility of the project, even if we think that there may still be room for negotiations to find an agreement”, they add . With respect to FiberCop, Tim's CEO confirmed he intends to proceed with KKR on 31/8, without closing the idea of ​​merging the FiberCop project into a broader single network project to be negotiated even later. Analysts judge the message "positively", "since it is a project that makes financial and industrial sense and that does not preclude developments on the single network". In the interview, Gubitosi also makes it clear to the government that Tim is unwilling to block their plans pending a solution on the single network. "The risk of a clash with the government on this project exists – according to Equita – but it would seem serious if the government obstructs a similar project by using, for example, the golden power in an instrumental way, against an infrastructural fund that becomes a minority", referring to the government's interlocutory move on the American fund Kkr .

THE STRATEGIC NODE

But what is the real knot? “The theme is not to create a new monopoly. And to facilitate – as for the Snam and Terna energy networks – the division between the network (which must have a public principle of ownership) and the services – says an insider who follows the dossier – Therefore, at present, the entry of a fund like Kkr in a company already in the hands of foreign (French) subjects would only increase fragmentation and make a problem on the network that Italy inherited from Tim's exasperated privatization even more unmanageable ”.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/scazzi-governo-tim-open-fiber/ on Thu, 20 Aug 2020 13:58:54 +0000.