Telecom Italia, TIM boards clear merger

MILAN, Jan 23 (AFP) - The boards of Telecom Italia and its mobile phone subsidiary TIM agreed Sunday to go ahead with their merger after Telecom Italia's successful bid to buy out part of TIM's minority shareholders, the companies said in a joint statement.
The deal involved the 44 percent in shares in TIM not already owned by TI aand is worth 14 billion euros (19.5 billion dollars).
The move means that TI joins France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom among the integrated operators seeking to bring fixed, mobile and Internet communications under one roof.
The statement said Telecom Italia shareholders will meet on April 5, 6 or 7 to approve the merger and TIM shareholders on April 5 or 6.
Prior to the merger, TIM will spin off its Italian mobile operations into a wholly-owned unit, the statement said.

01/23/2005 15:51 GMT - AFP