TI to Raise Stake in Argentine Unit

Telecom Italia executives say the company will exercise its call option to increase its stake in Telecom Argentina next year. The Italian company owns 50% of Sofora, Telecom Argentina’s majority owner, and plans to take over the remaining half, which is 48% owned by the Werthein Group, while France Telecom has the remaining 2%. The executives say that once the option has been exercised, Telecom Italia will bring in a local partner who will take on a “significant” portion of the new stake, which they say is worth up to $180m. Telecom Italia also has announced that it is cutting 4,000 jobs and selling non-core assets to raise up to EUR3bn to pay down EUR37bn in debt. While it does not specify which assets are for sale, it does say that only the Italian and Brazilian markets are considered core.