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Vodafone Group has finalised the sale of its Italian unit to Swisscom for €8 billion, the second of a trio of major deals to be concluded that reshape the seller’s European operations.
The deal was done slightly ahead of the original Q1 2025 estimate, completing at the end of December 2024, and came hot on the heels of Vodafone clearing a major regulatory hurdle in a bid to merge its UK operation with local rival 3.
In May 2024 Vodafone sold its Spanish unit to Zegona Communications for €5 billion.
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On first announcing the deal in Italy, the final of the three struck, Vodafone stated its reshaped European operation would be focused on growing markets.
Cash from the sale of Vodafone Italy will be used to cut debt, with the company also planning to implement share buybacks.
For Swisscom, the purchase ups its play in Italy, where it already owns fixed operation Fastweb. It plans to integrate the two in a move it claims heralds “a new era” in the market.
The brands of Fastweb, Vodafone, and Ho are set to be retained, initially at least, under the overarching entity of Fastweb + Vodafone.
In a statement, CEO of Fastweb + Vodafone Walter Renna highlighted the combined company would be: “a stronger, more innovative organisation to lead Italy into a sustainable digital future, empowering people, businesses, and public administrations.”
Swisscom expects to benefit from annual synergies amounting to €600 million by combining the two businesses and plans to provide “innovative, competitively priced converged services” to consumers and enterprises.
As part of the deal, Vodafone will supply Swisscom with various services in Italy for up to five years, with the UK-based group estimated to earn around €350 million from this in the first year.
Ghana
Take note that in both Italy and Spain the prices at which Vodafone sold the operations have been clearly stated as €8 billion and €5 billion, respectively.
But in Ghana, Vodafone sold its operations to Telecel in 2023, and to date, none of the parties has disclosed the sale price to Ghanaians, and Ghanaian authorities have not bothered to demand the disclosure of the sale price.
