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Mobile & Wireless
Fastweb To Ally With Vodafone?
Tie-Up Could Aid FMC Approach, Say Operators
by Iain Morris
Italian broadband provider Fastweb and mobile operator
Vodafone are mulling over the benefits of closer collaboration
in the Italian market, according to a report in today’s
Financial Times.
Such an alliance would allow both companies to offer their
Italian customers so-called ‘bundled’ offers. Fastweb could
use capacity on Vodafone’s cellular network to provide its
users with a mobile service, while Vodafone could take
advantage of Fastweb’s fixed-line assets to become a
broadband provider – a move it has already made in the UK
through a similar agreement with incumbent operator BT.
The two companies have already signed an agreement to
offer a combination of fixed and mobile services under the
branding of ‘Vodafone Casa Fastweb,’ which builds on an
earlier Vodafone initiative called Vodafone Casa, aimed at
lowering the rates for mobile calls made from the home.
But the tie-up ran into a regulatory hurdle last November,
when Italian incumbent Telecom Italia objected to a scheme
that would have allowed customers of Vodafone Casa Fastweb
to transfer fixed-line numbers to their mobiles. Italy’s
communications ministry has since authorised a legal
investigation into the service and a decision is awaited on the 15th of February.
Despite the hiccup, both operators seem undeterred from
pursuing their plans. “We are happy with our relationship with
Fastweb and are looking to deepen our commercial
cooperation,” Vodafone was quoted as saying.
That would not, however, mean a sale of Fastweb’s assets to
Vodafone, according to Silvio Scaglia, the chairman of
Fastweb. “All the contacts we have are purely commercial,” he
was reported as saying. “There is probably scope eventually
to expand this partnership.”
The report comes as Fastweb prepared to release full details
of its latest quarterly earnings. In a preliminary
announcement, the operator claimed to have achieved the
targets set by management, reporting fourth-quarter
revenues of €362 m (US$468 m), an increase of 26 percent compared with
the same period last year, and subscriber additions of
105,000 – a 50 percent increase on last year that takes its
overall subscriber base to 1,062,400.
Fastweb was quick to point out that its commercial
arrangements with Vodafone have ‘not yet produced a visible
contribution’ to its earnings.
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