FastWeb and Telecom Italia to Cooperate on Fiber

Telecom Italia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to share fiber infrastructure in Italy and to cooperate as follows:

• Joint planning of the civil infrastructure for fiber networks
• The reciprocal exchange of rights to use civil infrastructure
• Joint study and testing of new techniques in civil infrastructure such as latest generation micro-tubing for laying fiber

As part of this MOU the two companies settled a number legal and regulatory issues between the two companies, including:

• Fastweb's claim against Telecom Italia's alleged unfair practices in the business customer segment
• Disputes relating to Fastweb's fixed line tariffs and to those applied by Telecom Italia on the mobile network
• Telecom Italia's contesting Fastweb's adjudication of the tender to supply telephone services to public governments in Italy
• Reconciliation of a number of account items under dispute between the two companies

This agreement shows a path forward that may be followed in other companies with strong telecom competitors. FTTH is a very expensive proposition and both incumbents and competitors will be well served by cooperating in the deployment of fiber infrastructure.