Swisscom sole bidder for Vodafone's Italian assets - report

Swisscom has become the sole party still in discussions with Vodafone Group about its Italian assets, it was reported on Thursday.

Vodafone recently rejected an offer from French telecoms group Iliad to combine their Italian operations in a 50:50 joint venture.

The deal would have created an operator worth around €14.7bn but Vodafone confirmed it was no longer in discussions with Iliad last month.

It said at the time that talks continued with others.

But on Thursday Reuters reported that Swisscom was now the only party in discussions.

Citing three anonymous sources, Reuters said the Swiss operator wanted to combine its Fastweb Italian business with Vodafone’s Italy assets.

A tie-up would create Italy’s second-largest fixed line broadband operator, with a strong position in the business services segment, Reuters noted.

Fastweb, which does not have a mobile network, has a 34% market share in the enterprise segment.

Both Vodafone and Swisscom decline to comment on the report.