Italy's INWIT cuts outlook over TIM-Fastweb tower plan, shares extend losses (updated)

Swisscom AG

20/03/2026 10:21

Updates dateline; adds shares performance in paragraphs 1-2 and GM Galli's comments from analyst call in paragraphs 7-8.

By Laura Contemori, Natalia Bueno Rebolledo and Akanksha Khushi

March 20 (Reuters) - INWIT INWT.MI cut its 2026 and medium-term forecasts on Thursday after Telecom Italia TLIT.MI and Swisscom's SCMN.S Fastweb said they would build up to 6,000 telecom towers across Italy, which sent its shares 9% lower in early Friday trading.

Shares of Italy's largest mobile telecom towers company have lost around a quarter of their value since its two biggest tenants announced the joint venture plan on Thursday. The move threatens INWIT's future growth and leverage in contract talks, analysts said.

The company expects 2026 revenue to come in the range of 1.05 billion to 1.09 billion euros ($1.22 billion to $1.26 billion), translating to a core profit (EBITDA) margin of 90%. The bottom of its earlier revenue range was at 1.135 billion euros.

INWIT said it viewed the proposed joint venture as being in conflict with the Master Service Agreements it signed with the two companies in 2020.

"The stance taken by TIM and Fastweb aims to obtain an unbalanced and unjustified revision of the original terms of the two MSAs," it said in a statement.

The Italian company said that any attempt to undermine its contractual position as the preferred supplier for TIM and Fastweb must be considered instrumental and it would take all necessary legal steps to protect its rights.

Talking to analysts in a call on Friday, General Manager Diego Galli said TIM and Fastweb could issue a contract termination notice by the end of March, based on the anchor tenants' interpretation that the current agreements could end in 2028.

INWIT sees no legal grounds for such a move, with Galli saying the contracts were extended to 2038 under a change-of-control clause. The updated 2026 guidance already factors in scenarios of some legal escalation, he said.

($1 = 0.8641 euros)

(Reporting by Natalia Bueno Rebolledo in Mexico City, Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru and Laura Contemori in Gdansk; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((natalia.bueno@thomsonreuters.com))