Swisscom is to take over Vodafone's Italian division for €8 billion and merge it with its existing Italian subsidiary Fastweb as part of ongoing consolidation in Europe's highly competitive telecoms sector.

Vodafone has announced that the sale of its Italian subsidiary represents the final phase of a strategic restructuring of its European assets launched by CEO Margherita Della Valle in May. The reorganisation is aimed at reducing debt and streamlining operations. Previous steps in this restructuring included the €5 billion sale of Zegona Communications' Spanish operations and a proposed merger with Three in the UK to create the country's largest mobile network provider.

Vodafone plans to grow primarily in the B2B sector, where it sees great potential in supporting public sector entities and small businesses that are transitioning to innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing. In addition, the company sees opportunities in Africa, where it is looking to expand its mobile and fixed line services and where its fintech platform already has more than 75 million customers.

The merger of Vodafone Italia and Fastweb will bring together the second and fourth largest telecoms operators in Italy, with combined annual revenues of approximately €7 billion. Italy accounts for approximately 11% of Vodafone's total revenues and is its third largest market after Germany and the UK.