TIM signs network-sharing deal with Open Fiber to speed up rollout

MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) has signed a commercial agreement with Open Fiber to provide the rival broadband network company with access to its infrastructure to speed up the rollout of fibre in the more remote parts of Italy, the companies said on Friday.

Under the deal Open Fiber will pay 200 million euros ($208 million) to use TIM's network infrastructure in the hard-to-reach so-called 'white areas'.

The commercial tie-up comes at a time when TIM and Open Fiber's top investor, state lender CDP - which also has a 10% stake in TIM - are in talks to clinch a preliminary agreement to merge the former phone monopoly's network infrastructure with those of state backed rival. ($1 = 0.9605 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Maria Pia Quaglia, editing by Keith Weir)