The CEO of Vodafone has bemoaned the ‘excessive fragmentation’ of European telecoms markets as Italy today became the latest country the firm has exited after it reached an €8 billion deal with rival Swisscom.
The all-cash deal, which Vodafone said was the highest multiple of any of their market transactions in the past decade, will see the creation of Italy's second-biggest fixed-line broadband operator behind TIM and follows Vodafone’s €5 billion sale of its Spanish operations and proposed merger with the UK’s Three announced last year.
