Italy Alternative Telecoms Operators Exit NGN Committee

Italy's alternative telecoms operators -- including Fastweb SpA (FWB.MI), Vodafone Italia (VOD) and Wind SpA -- said Tuesday they withdrew from the Next-Generation Network (NGN) committee, which was created to set the guidelines for the transition from traditional to fiber infrastructure in the country.

In a joint statement, the alternative operators -- which participated in the NGN committee together with rival Telecom Italia SpA (TI) -- said the committee failed to take into consideration their contributions and didn't represent their positions in its proposed guidelines.

Alternative operators also complained that the committee's guidelines reflected almost completely Telecom Italia's requests.

Telecom Italia wasn't available for a comment.

The operators pledged to express their views in a hearing with Italy's telecoms regulator AGCOM.

Italy's AGCOM has repeatedly urged operators to work together to develop a fast fiber-based network, warning that failure to do so could be costly for the country's economic growth and competitiveness as Italy lags the rest of Europe in broadband penetration.

Fastweb, Wind and Vodafone recently announced plans to jointly invest EUR2.5 billion over a five-year period to build fiber in Italy's 15 largest cities, covering about 10 million more people.

Telecom Italia has dismissed calls to join the rival broadband project and said it will push ahead with its own plans to offer 100 megabits per second broadband to 50% of the Italian population by 2018, pledging to invest EUR9 billion in its network infrastructure by 2012.

-By Giada Zampano, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]