Vodafone Selling Italian Unit to Swisscom

Vodafone agreed to sell 100% of its Italian operations to Swisscom for $8.71 billion, Vodafone said Friday. Swisscom will combine Vodafone Italia with Fastweb, its Italian network provider (see 2402280045). “With the sale of Vodafone Italy and Vodafone Spain, together with the merger of Vodafone UK and Three UK, Vodafone will now focus its operations in Europe on growing markets, where we hold strong positions with good local scale,” Vodafone said: “All telecom markets within the new geographic footprint have been growing over the last 3 years, and we will now accelerate our performance where we can create value.” The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including by the Italian Competition Authority. Vodafone and Swisscom are exploring “a closer commercial relationship to enable collaboration across a broad range of areas, beyond Italy,” Vodafone said.