Market Report, "Italy Telecommunications Report Q2 2011", published

March 31, 2011 - PRLog -- Telecom Italia may buy rival broadband infrastructure and services provider Metroweb. The alternative operator, which owns an extensive regional fibre-optic network, is considering its future business prospects, which may include a sale to a rival company. Metroweb is understood to be valued at EUR400- 500mn, which would leave the incumbent as one of the few likely bidders with sufficient cash reserves. As Italy's broadband operators struggle to gain traction outside major cities, consolidation among the larger players appears to be inevitable.

Metroweb primarily serves Milan, although its fibre-optic network also extends throughout much of northern Italy through interconnection and infrastructure sharing agreements with other operators. Approximately 305,000km of fibre is used in its 6,200km network, including nearly 2,500km of fibre leased from FastWeb. The company is working with Telecom Italia to establish a fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) network in Milan. We therefore believe the incumbent would be interested in buying the company.

Bidding alongside Telecom Italia is Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo. Alternative operators Fastweb, Vodafone and Wind are also weighing up bids along with financial groups. Telecom Italia said it will only invest in a fibre-optic network based on demand, pitting itself against the three alternative telecoms operators that announced plans to band together to create a national network.

Interest in broadband is increasing and Telecom Italia won regulatory approval from Agcom to provide a broadband service with speeds of 100Mbps, but only in six cities where its competitors already offer similar services. The regulator is keen to ensure there is a level playing field across the broadband sector. Further, Agcom demanded that Telecom Italia must not sign up more than 40,000 customers during 2011 to ensure it does not dominate the market.

Meanwhile, Vodafone announced plans to offer mobile broadband services with transmission speeds of up to 43.2Mbps over its HSPA+ network across Rome and Milan. By March 2011 the operator expects to offer the service across 16 cities in Italy. Initially the service will only be on offer to selected corporate clients although a full commercial launch is planned for April 2011.

Italy fell to 12th position in this quarter's update to BMI's Business Environment Ratings for Western Europe, down from 11th place. This was largely due to its Country Rewards and Country Risk scores with the former rising and offsetting the decline in the score of the latter. The Italian economy is one of the most vulnerable economies in an already shaky eurozone. We still expect a return to positive growth in 2010, although we caution that weak domestic and external demand will allow for a fairly modest rate of economic expansion.

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Partial Table of Contents:

SWOT Analysis
- Italy Mobile SWOT
- Italy Wireline Market SWOT
- Italy Political SWOT
- Italy Economic SWOT
Business Environment Ratings
- Western Europe
- Italy
Industry Forecast Scenario
- Mobile
- Table: Telecoms Sector - Mobile - Historical Data And Forecasts, 2008-2015
- Fixed Line
- Table: Telecoms Sector - Fixed Line - Historical Data And Forecasts, 2008-2015
- Internet
- Table: Telecoms Sector - Internet - Historical Data And Forecasts, 2008-2015
Market Data Analysis
- Mobile
- Market Share
- Table: Italy Mobile Market, Q310
- Table: Italy Mobile Market, Net Additions, Q310
- Subscriber Divisions
- ARPU
- Table: Italian MVNOs
- 3G
- Mobile Contract Wins
- Table: Mobile Contract Wins
- Mobile Content
- Regional Outlook
- Country Outlook
- SMS
- HSDPA And HSUPA
- LTE
- Value-Added Services Timeline
- Table: Selected VAS Services
- Mobile Operator Data
- Table: Italy Mobile Market Overview
- Table: Telecom Italia
- Table: Vodafone
- Table: Wind
- Table: 3 Italia
- Fixed Line
- Table: Italian Fixed-Line Market, Q309-Q310
- Local Loop Unbundling (LLU)
- Table: Telecom Italia OLO Accesses, Q309-Q310
- VoIP
- Wholesale Access
- Broadband
- Table: Italian Broadband Market, Q309-Q310
- Alternative Broadband Operators
- Broadband Infrastructure
- WiMAX And LTE
- Table: Wireline Developments
Regulatory Environment And Industry Developments
- Italy: Regulatory Bodies And Their Responsibilities
- Legislation And Market Liberalisation
- Licensing And Spectrum
- Industry Developments
Competitive Landscape
- Key Players
- Table: Key Players: Italy Telecoms Sector
- Table: Selected Operators Financial Indicators, 2006-2010 (US$mn)
Company Monitor
- In Europe, It's Not All About LTE
- Table: Selected Western European LTE Supply Announcements, 2009-2011
- Table: Ericsson Net Sales By Division, SEKmn
Company Profiles
- Telecom Italia
- Vodafone Italia
- WIND
- 3 Italia
- FastWeb
Regional Telecommunications Penetration Overview
- Fixed Line
- Table: Regional Fixed-Line Penetration Overview
- Mobile
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Full Table of Contents is available at:
-- http://www.fastmr.com/catalog/product.aspx?productid=1287...

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Fast Market Research is an online aggregator and distributor of market research and business information. We represent the world's top research publishers and analysts and provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available.