Vodafone and Telecom Italia (TIM) are set to secure conditional EU antitrust approval to create Europe’s biggest mobile towers company, Reuters reported.
The companies announced a plan last July to create Italy’s largest mobile towers group through the transfer of Vodafone’s Italian mobile masts to INWIT, TIM’s 60 percent-owned subsidiary.
When the 10-billion-euro ($11.2 billion) merger is complete, TIM and Vodafone will each have a 37.5 percent stake and equal governance rights in the enlarged INWIT.
The telecoms providers last month offered to give rivals access to some of their infrastructure for up to nine years to address EU antitrust concerns.
This included making available between 400 and 630 cell sites annually in towns with more than 35,000 people to allow rivals to provide current and future mobile and fixed telephony services.
The deal includes a network sharing agreement and a partnership to roll out 5G infrastructure jointly across Italy.
