(Bloomberg) -- Swisscom AG has received clearance to acquire Vodafone Italia from both the Italian competition regulator and Industry Ministry.
Vodafone Group Plc in March struck an €8 billion ($8.3 billion) deal to sell its Italian business to Swisscom, setting the stage for a shake-up of the fiercely competitive Italian market. Under the deal, Swisscom will merge Vodafone Italia with its Fastweb SpA subsidiary.
“This paves the way to the creation of a leading converged challenger in Italy,” the company said in a statement dated Friday. “The combined entity resulting from the transaction will leverage Fastweb’s and Vodafone Italia’s high-quality fixed and mobile infrastructures, competencies, and capabilities.”
Swisscom said in the statement that it agreed to continue to provide wholesale services to interested operators in line with Fastweb’s current practice and to share information in any public tender for fixed line and fixed connectivity services issued by the public administration, where Fastweb or Vodafone Italia are the current suppliers. The commitments apply for three years.
Swisscom said it expects the transaction to be completed by the first quarter of 2025.
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