Labriola: 'Let the telcos merge, from us commitments on investments'
CEO Tim: 'Three operators are not a monopoly, Europe has courage'. From the former incumbent a 500 million fixed-rate bond with seven times the demand
3' min read
3' min read
The message bouncing back from Brussels leaves no room for interpretation: the European telcos are asking the Union for new rules, fewer constraints and more courage. Tim's CEO, Pietro Labriola, put it bluntly during the ConnectEurope event organised by the Financial Times: "Let us merge and we will make commitments on investments".
Words, those of Tim's CEO, that in fact relaunch an issue that has been shaking the sector for years with the force of urgency.
Underlying this is an issue of industrial vision: 'Important decisions need to be taken, and the time to take them is now'. The picture of the market, in fact, speaks for itself: there are still too many operators in Europe, fragmented and encumbered by rules that do not keep pace with global challenges. "Three operators are not a monopoly. We are asking to go from four companies to three,' Labriola emphasised, aiming to dismantle one of the taboos that have so far held Brussels back from accepting the demands of the European Tlc world.
Labriola's was not, however, an isolated voice yesterday. Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone Group, spared no blows: 'We only need two changes. We need to ensure that our competition policies, value investments, and competition do not sacrifice consumer protection in any way. Furthermore, we need to start removing obstacles to the single market'. The paradox is all in the numbers that ceo Della Valle cites: less than 2% of European customers can use standalone 5G, compared to 24% in the US and over 80% in China. 'This is the problem. We need better networks,' the ceo insisted, pointing the way to large-scale investments.
But Europe, Labriola observed, remains hostage to its own bureaucracy. On consolidation 'I am not optimistic, we have been talking about it for a year,' he said, recalling how in the telecommunications sector 'we are all listed companies and we have to generate profits. If the listed company generates profits, the lender will give more money to reinvest in innovation and technology. In the last three or four years, maybe even a little more, this formula is not working'.
