Telecom Italia CEO Marco Patuano on Friday indicated that he is keen to see consolidation in the Italian mobile market, but he is not pinning all his hopes on a quick resolution.
"I have a couple of good bottles of champagne in my refrigerator just in case," he said in response to a question about consolidation at an event in London at which he presented the telco’s latest three-ye ar plan.
As it stands, there are two mobile network operators in Italy focusing on quality while the other two are still seeking to compete on price, he explained. A reduction in the number of players would bring that situation to an end.
"It’s better to have three players all working on quality, all investing," Patuano said. That might lead to Telecom Italia losing its differentiator, but the operating environment would be better, he said. "[There is] a lot of value you can unlock in such a case."
"I will not be part of the consolidation," he added.
Earlier this week it emerged that Wind and 3 Italia – the two price-focused operators that Patuano was careful not to name – could be moving closer to a merger deal. According to sources cited by Bloomberg, the pair have stepped up negotiations on the combination of their mobile businesses, having resolved a number of possible stumbling blocks to a deal.
Should a deal emerge from the negotiations, Italy would be left with three mobile operators with similar market shares. Based on the latest figures from Italian regulator AGCOM, Wind and 3 together would have held a 33.3% share of the mobile market as of the end of September, while Telecom Italia had 32.1% and Vodafone 27.5%.
But Patuano reminded his audience that there has been much talk of mobile consolidation in Italy in recent years that has come to nought.
"I was ready to cheer so many times," he said, adding that he now takes a prudent approach to M&A talk.
