Swisscom's proposed €8 billion ($8.43bn) acquisition of Vodafone Italy has been approved by Italy's communications regulator AGCOM (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni).
Approval of the deal follows that of the European Commission's (EC) in September and government approval in May.
"The Italian Authority for Communications (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni, AGCOM) has cleared the acquisition of Vodafone Italia with regard to the effects of the transaction on the competitive and pluralistic structure of the Italian market for audiovisual media services. The approval is another important step on the way to securing the regulatory approvals needed to finalize the transaction," said Swisscom in a statement.
Vodafone confirmed on March 15, that it had agreed to sell its Italian unit to Swisscom, in a deal that will see Swisscom merge Vodafone with its Italian subsidiary Fastweb.
Swisscom said the deal will be debt-financed and paid for in cash.
The merger will combine 3.4 million Fastweb customers with Vodafone's 20 million, making it the second-biggest telco in Italy behind struggling Telecom Italia (TIM).
For Vodafone, the deal is part of its overall strategy to streamline and revamp its operations. The company has already completed a sale of its Spanish business this year to UK investment firm Zegona, and is poised to merge with Three in the UK.
This week, Vodafone's chief executive Margherita Della Valle said the carrier was confident it would close both deals in the UK and Italy soon.