Italian state-backed lender ready to buy out Metroweb if stake unsold

(Refiles to clarify CDP Chairman comments)

ROME, April 2 (Reuters) - Italian state-backed lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti would be ready to buy out Metroweb if no buyer is found when Italian fund F2i decides to sell its stake, CDP Chairman Franco Bassanini said on Thursday.

Italy's biggest phone group Telecom Italia (Other OTC: TIAJF - news) and rival Vodafone have been in talks for months to buy a stake in Metroweb from infrastructure fund F2i, but discussions have hit problems over the ownership structure of the deal.

"If (in the future) there are no investors willing to buy F2i's stake in Metroweb, it's not a mystery for anyone that CDP will step in to buy it," Bassanini said on the sidelines of an event in Rome, without giving any time frame.

Metroweb is a small firm which rents out fibre optic cables but Prime Minister Matteo Renzi considers the partly state-owned company a building block for a 12 billion euro ($13 billion) plan to roll out high-speed networks in Italy.

The company is 87.7 percent owned by Metroweb Italia, which in turn is 53.8 percent owned by F2i and 46.2 percent by CDP unit FSI. Buying a stake in Metroweb could ultimately determine who calls the shots in the multi-billion euro plan.

Both Telecom Italia and Vodafone have set their sights on Metroweb as they seek to meet growing consumer demand for bandwidth-hungry services.

Telecom Italia is interested in buying 51 percent of Metroweb and has rejected proposals by Vodafone and other phone operators for a joint ownership of Metroweb.

This plan has raised competition concerns. In February Telecom Italia Chairman Giuseppe Recchi said the board had concluded conditions were not yet right for an agreement.

In March Vodafone made a fresh attempt to buy a stake, pushing Telecom Italia to review the situation. A source close to the Metroweb talks said this week discussions with Telecom Italia were in stand-by and the main hurdle remained the size of the stake.

Industry sources say an agreement over Metroweb is unlikely until the government sets final rules for public incentives to roll out broadband networks. Regulatory uncertainty over wholesale prices is also seen as an obstacle.

On Thursday, Raffaele Tiscar, a member of Renzi's broadband task force, said a government decree over broadband incentives was almost ready and details would be defined by mid-April. ($1 = 0.9234 euros) (Reporting by Alberto Sisto; Writing and additional reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Vincent Baby)