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TIM follows its rival Fastweb+Vodafone in refusing to renew its contact with Italy’s largest tower company
On Monday, Italy’s largest mobile operator Telecom Italia (TIM) announced that it will not renew its Master Service Agreement (MSA) with tower giant Infrastructure Wireless Italiane (INWIT) in 2030, based on a change-of-control clause exercised by INWIT in 2022.
The move follows news last week that TIM’s local rival Fastweb+Vodafone is also seeking to terminate its agreement with INWIT. In this case, the operator says that INWIT did not exercise its change-of-control clause, which would allow it to terminate the agreement in March 2028. If this claim is found to be true, TIM has clarified that it will also terminate the agreement at this earlier date.
INWIT, currently Italy’s largest tower operator, was founded in 2015 via the spinning-off of TIM’s passive mobile infrastructure. The company subsequently merged with Vodafone Italia’s tower unit and continued to grow, with its infrastructure footprint today spanning around 26,000 towers across the country.
In recent years, both TIM and Fastweb+Vodafone have complained that INWIT’s fees are too high, driving them to seek alternative options.
As such, TIM and Fastweb+Vodafone recently announced their commitment to launch a new infrastructure joint venture, which aims to deploy up to 6,000 towers across Italy. This business, the companies claim, will allow the operators to improve operational efficiency and align costs with the European average.
INWIT, however, contests the legality of the MSA terminations and arguing that its fees are in line with international benchmarks.
“This action is unlawful and lacks industrial rationale,” INWIT said. “The contract remains valid and effective until 2038; it is in line with market conditions and creates value for all parties involved.”
“Any attempt to terminate the contract early must be considered instrumental and aimed at exerting undue pressure on Inwit to renegotiate the terms of the MSA,” the company added in response the Fastweb+Vodafone announcement, saying it “has instructed its lawyers to take action in all appropriate venues, including seeking injunctive relief, to fully protect its interests and those of all stakeholders.”
INWIT also argues that the decision to shift to a new tower provider will cause unnecessary overbuild and be bad for the nation’s digital development.
“Infrastructure duplication has no industrial, economic or environment logic, requires biblical implementation time and would slow down much-needed development of 5G,” said INWIT in a statement.
If the cancellations do progress, both operators say will seek to negotiate a migration plan with INWIT to ensure that customers will be unaffected by the decision.
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