Italy's telecommunications provider, TIM has agreed to sell its remaining 10 percent stake in Daphne 3, the holding company that owns 29.9 percent of Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane (INWIT), to Impulse I, a consortium led by Ardian. The deal values INWIT shares at EUR 10.43 each, translating to approximately EUR 250 million in proceeds for TIM, excluding the company's 2024 financial guidance, TIM said in a statement on Tuesday.
The terms and conditions of the transaction are in line with the practices of public M&A deals of a comparable nature, including certain customary protections applicable after signing, TIM said. The company expects to close the sale in the fourth quarter of this year.
Also Read: TIM Completes EUR 22 Billion Sale of NetCo to KKR
Sparkle Completes Quantum-Safe NaaS PoC
In another recent development, Telecom Italia's submarine cable division, Sparkle, has completed a Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) Proof of Concept (PoC) focused on a quantum-safe Internet use case.
The PoC, conducted in collaboration with Adtran, Arqit Quantum, and Intel, and supported by TIM Group's cybersecurity arm Telsy, was carried out on Sparkle's fiber optic network in Athens. It demonstrated the automated deployment of an on-demand MEF Internet Access Service secured by post-quantum cryptography, TIM said.
This PoC builds on a previous trial involving an international VPN between Italy and Germany. By integrating Arqit's quantum-safe encryption with an Intel-powered NetSec accelerator card used as Universal Customer Premises Equipment (uCPE), Sparkle tested a NaaS solution featuring on-demand networking and security capabilities. The solution utilised Adtran's Ensemble cloud-based orchestration and automation software.
Also Read: TIM Unveils Network as a Service (NaaS) Strategy
Sparkle plans to commercially launch its NaaS/Quantum-Safe Internet (NaaS/QSI) later in 2024, with additional use cases to follow as part of Sparkle's NaaS Suite.
