Slc, Fistel and Uilcom unions ask Italy’s top ranked mobile operator for an urgent meeting to discuss both projects
The Slc, Fistel and Uilcom communications sector unions have written to CK Hutchison-owned Wind Tre requesting an “urgent meeting to take stock of the company situation starting from the network sale project which appears increasingly bogged down.”
Last April, Sweden’s EQT Infrastructure announced it would take control of 60% of the telecom network of Wind Tre, in a deal valuing the network business at €3.4 billion. The divestment was meant to be completed by 1 October 2023 with 2,000 of the company’s 6,500 employees in Italy being re-employed by the Swedish equity firm EQT’s new network business.
However, last October, CK Hutchison said the deadline to close the deal had been extended by three months until 12 Feb 2024 due to the lack of an agreement “with relevant third parties”. Those third parties included French telco Iliad which has a joint venture agreement with Wind Tre involving parts of the mobile network serving more regional areas of Italy, comprising around 7,000 towers. The delay was also linked to negotiations with Fastweb which has a long-term 5G network sharing partnership with Wind Tre.
Now, the unions have reacted with alarm to news Wind Tre has set up a task force to study savings and cost cuts, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters. Wind Tre’s co-CEOs Gianluca Corti and Benoit Hanssen announced a strategic initiative to cut costs and streamline operations, involving a cross-function team. According to CorCom, the unions claim they were not consulted about the new task force and suggested tongue firmly in cheek that immediate savings could be made if the CEO role was not duplicated.
Referring to “the undeniable stalemate of the network unbundling operation”, which they added was never the solution to follow in the first place, the unions accused management of finding: “nothing better to do than launch an operation that alludes to the need to cut costs.”