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MILAN, May 29 (Reuters) - Britain's Vodafone andVimpelcom's Italian mobile phone unit Wind have signed aletter of intent with shareholders of broadband firm Metroweb tobuild a fibre-optic network in Italy, the companies said in ajoint statement.
The agreement comes as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renziis pushing to upgrade the country's ageing phone infrastructurein a 12-billion-euro ($13 billion) plan he considers vital tomodernise the economy.
Rome sees Metroweb, which is partly owned by the state andhas attracted takeover interest from former phone monopolyTelecom Italia, as a building block for themulti-billion-euro plan.
In the statement on Friday the companies said the projectwas open to other operators and investors ready to pursue thegoals set by the government. A decree detailing the broadbandplan is expected in the coming days.
Telecom Italia had proposed a gradual take-over of Metroweb.But its proposal was rejected by the company's state owners whofavour opening up the capital of Metroweb to all operators.
If the letter of intent leads to a deal, this would putpressure on Telecom Italia, which is going ahead with its owninvestment plan to upgrade its copper network and bring fasterInternet connections to Italian consumers.
The statement on Friday did not mention any timeframe forany agreement nor the size of the possible joint investment.
($1 = 0.9111 euros) (Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Pravin Char)
Vodafone (VOD)
