The Italian Economy Ministry announced on Thursday that a consortium led by it has submitted a 700-million-euro ($733-million) binding bid for Telecom Italia (TIM)'s Sparkle submarine cable unit.

The Ministry is bidding against Retelit, a Spanish infrastructure fund Asterion-owned Italian fibre network operator. The statement stated that the offer is valid through January 27.

Italy wants to take control of Sparkle. This firm is deemed strategic due to its 600,000 km cable network that transmits data between Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Americas.

A source familiar with the matter has confirmed that TIM will hold a board of directors meeting on Friday in order to begin discussing the offer.

Sparkle was sold as part of TIM's infrastructure asset sales, led by Pietro Labriola. The goal is to reduce the debt of the company and focus on its services.

TIM sold its fixed-line network in the United States to the fund KKR, at the beginning of July. The Italian government took a stake of up to 22 billion euro in the network venture.

(source: Reuters)