Telecom Italia (TIM) has confirmed that it has received a binding offer of €700 million ($727m) for its Sparkle 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.

Telecom Italia
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It emerged in early October that the Italian government partnered with Asterion to make a non-binding offer for the asset.

At the end of last month, TIM extended the deadline for which an offer could be made.

The government had a previously undisclosed offer for the unit rejected in February. TIM wants up to €750 million ($789m).

Sparkle operates more than 600,000km of cables that connect countries across Europe and the Americas, and Italy is seeking to bring this network under state ownership as part of a plan from Giorgia Meloni’s government to take control of more strategic assets.

TIM has been selling off various parts of its business in recent months. In January, the Italian government approved TIM's planned sale of its fixed line network to KKR, worth €22 billion ($23.92bn).

The operator agreed to sell its landline grid network to US investment firm KKR last November.