ROME (Reuters) – Italy has launched a process that could end with Telecom Italia <TLIT.MI> being fined for failing to notify Rome that French media group Vivendi <VIV.PA> had assumed de facto control of the phone company, a government source said.
Vivendi denies its 24 percent holding in Telecom Italia has given it effective control of the company.
An Italian government panel met on Thursday to conclude an investigation that started last month and “launched the process for the possible application of the fine”, the source said, without indicating how much it might be.
Telecom Italia shares fell 1 percent on Friday morning.
A Telecom Italia source said the company reiterated its position there had been no need for any notification because it never made changes regarding control of the company and its network.
A Vivendi spokesman declined to comment.
(Reporting by Massimiliano Di Giorgio, Francesca Piscioneri and John Irish; editing by Adrian Croft and David Clarke)
