Swisscom Proposes Remedies to Italian Antitrust for Vodafone Deal

By Elvira Pollina

MILAN (Reuters) – Swisscom (SIX:SCMN) offered a second set of remedies to Italy's antitrust authority at the end of October to win approval for a planned deal to combine its Italian arm Fastweb with Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD) assets in the country, a letter seen by Reuters showed.

The Italian antitrust authority (AGCM), whose approval is required to complete the deal, opened an in-depth review in September of Swisscom's 8 billion euro buyout of Vodafone Italia, which would be merged with Fastweb.

AGCM stated that the merger could restrict competition by creating a dominant player in Italy's fixed-line wholesale service market, as well as in retail services for residential, public administration, and corporate customers.

Swisscom submitted the fresh set of remedies to incorporate feedback from the Italian authority during a hearing held on Oct. 25 following a first round of proposals, according to the letter.

Competitors were required to provide feedback on the proposed remedies by Nov. 4, with Italy's antitrust now assessing the new package, according to two people briefed on the matter on Tuesday.

In its latest proposals, Swisscom offered competitors access to Fastweb's fibre infrastructure to provide connectivity services to corporate and public administration clients, as detailed in the letter.

It also proposed sharing necessary information to ensure fair competition in public tenders for phone and connectivity services where the merged entity has contracts when the deal is approved.

Additionally, Swisscom stated that Fastweb would maintain existing wholesale contracts allowing rivals to provide ultra-fast fixed Internet connectivity to residential customers.

Swisscom is also willing to appoint an independent monitoring trustee to oversee the implementation of these remedies.

Swisscom, AGCM, and Vodafone declined to comment.

The authority is expected to complete its in-depth review of the Vodafone-Swisscom deal by Dec. 10. Swisscom plans to finalize the deal in the first quarter of next year.