Italian telecom market sees Fastweb-Vodafone synergy gains and iliad growth

The Italian telecommunications sector is seeing significant shifts following the merger of Fastweb and Vodafone and strong performance from iliad.

In the first half of 2026, the Fastweb and Vodafone group reported a paradox: while mobile connections fell by 2% to 19.8 million and fixed connections dropped to 5.5 million, profitability increased. Total revenues decreased by 3.3% to 3.47 billion euros, but EBITDA after lease expense grew by 12.9% to 913 million euros. This growth is attributed to integration synergies, which generated 166 million euros in savings through cost rationalization and the migration of Fastweb SIMs to the Vodafone network. The group aims to exceed 300 million euros in savings by year-end.

Meanwhile, iliad reported a 10.2% increase in revenue and a 75.2% rise in Free Cash Flow for the same period. The operator reached 12.8 million mobile users and 568,000 fixed users. Regarding market structure, iliad leadership maintains that the most likely scenario for Italy remains a four-operator market and has dismissed rumors of potential mergers with competitors like WindTre or TIM. The company is also calling for a regulatory framework for the 2029 frequency renewals that values infrastructure investments.