Vodafone Enters Italy's Fixed Broadband Market

MILAN -(Dow Jones)- The Italian unit of Vodafone Group said Monday it will launch its own asymmetric digital subscriber line, or ADSL, Internet access service in the country this summer, making a further step towards the integration of mobile and fixed-line services.

Vodafone Italia Chief Executive Paolo Bertoluzzo said at a press conference that the company will enter the Italian fixed broadband market, still dominated by rival Telecom Italia, with a new device that provides clients with Internet and phone services both from home and while on the move.

The new device, developed in Italy and called Vodafone Station, will hit the market by the summer, with commercial offers designed for individual and business clients, Bertoluzzo said, without providing financial details.

Mobile phone giant Vodafone last October beat off rivals to acquire the Italian and Spanish assets of Tele2 for GBP537 million, in a move that was seen as a first step into the Italian fixed-line market. Sweden's Tele2 offers fixed-line and Internet services to more than 2.6 million customers in Italy.

The U.K. group has also been indicated by analysts and the press as frontrunner in the race to buy the Italian and UK assets of Italian broadband operator Tiscali, which drafted a short-list of possible bidders earlier this month.

-By Giada Zampano, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 02 5821 9907; giada.zampano@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 26th May 2008