French telecom company Vivendi has had its request to annul the sale of Telecom Italia's (TIM) landline grid to investment firm KKR denied.

An Italian court rejected Vivendi's claims today (January 14).

Vivendi, which holds a 24 percent stake in TIM, previously called the €22 billion ($22.5bn) sale "unlawful."

Telecom Italia
– Getty Images

TIM approved the sale without holding a conditional vote with shareholders, something that angered Vivendi. The company is considering its future with TIM, Italy's biggest mobile carrier.

Vivendi said it plans to appeal the court's decision.

Despite Vivendi's objection to the deal, TIM said the board had acted within its rights.

The deal was finally completed in July 2024, after TIM agreed to sell its landline grid network to KKR the previous November.

TIM pushed for the sale to reduce its debt, which it expects to cut by €14 billion ($14.3bn).

TIM has also been looking to shift its subsea unit Sparkle and last month confirmed that it received a binding offer of €700 million ($717m) for the unit from Italy's Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) and Retelit, a company controlled by the Asterion fund. TIM stated that the bid will be effective until January 27, 2025.

Also this week, it's been reported that TIM is to withdraw its premium satellite service from January 19. Advanced Television reports that TIM failed to agree on a new pricing structure with Eutelsat.

TIM launched the service in 2020 with the aim of providing satellite coverage to Italy's remote regions. The offering relied on Eutelsat’s Konnect satellite.

However, the carrier stopped selling the service last year, amid a reported dispute between TIM and Eutelsat.