Italy renews interest in Telecom Italia’s submarine cables

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By Aya El Sayed
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Italy is preparing a new bid to acquire Telecom Italia SpA’s submarine cable unit, Sparkle, in a consortium with Spain’s Asterion Industrial Partners, La Repubblica reported.

The offer is expected to be slightly above the €750 million ($837 million) proposal made earlier this year, which was rejected by Telecom Italia.

Sparkle operates over 600,000 kilometres (373,000 miles) of strategic cables connecting nations such as Israel and the US, making it a key asset for Italy’s government.

The bid comes as Telecom Italia recently agreed to sell its network grid to KKR & Co. Inc. for up to €22 billion.

CEO Pietro Labriola aims to play an active role in Italy’s telecom consolidation, following Swisscom’s €8 billion deal to merge Vodafone Italia with Fastweb.

Attribution: Bloomberg

Subediting: M. S. Salama

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