Telecom Italia ends lease with INWIT, adding pressure on mast operator

Swisscom AG

29/03/2026 12:20

By Elvira Pollina

MILAN, March 29 (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) TLIT.MI said on Sunday it had ended a long-term lease contract with INWIT INWT.MI, mirroring a similar earlier move by Swisscom's Fastweb SCMN.S and piling further pressure on Italy's top mast operator.

TIM and Fastweb are INWIT's main anchor tenants and account for nearly 85% of its 1-billion-euro ($1.2 billion) revenue.

Both operators are seeking to lower their lease costs and launched a JV to build up to 6,000 towers in Italy.

INWIT is resisting TIM and Fastweb's push to renegotiate their service agreements.

The tower firm said earlier both contracts were automatically extended until 2038 after in 2022 it activated a change of control clause following TIM's sale of the bulk of its stake in INWIT.

INWIT said it would fight any move to terminate and undermine the contracts in courts.

Under Fastweb's interpretation the current agreements could end in 2028, giving the company the right to issue a withdrawal notice two year earlier.

TIM said the termination would take effect in 2030, when its contract is due to end, or in 2028 if a court were to uphold Fastweb’s interpretation.

TIM said it remained open to discuss a renegotiation of the service agreement with INWIT and would start talks with the tower company to migrate its antennas from INWIT's masts.

($1 = 0.8690 euros)

 (Reporting by Elvira Pollina. Editing by Mark Potter)

 ((elvira.pollina@thomsonreuters.com))