Op boss Siragusa quits as TIM enters choppy waters
Telecom Italia (TIM) is appointing a new manager of network operations, Elisabetta Romano, after the current supremo Stefano Siragusa announced his intention to leave. The management reshuffle comes just as the telco is about to undergo sensitive and potentially traumatic structural surgery.
Siragusa, who joined TIM as chief infrastructure officer in 2018, was reportedly at odds with TIM CEO Pietro Labriola over the strategy for splitting the telco’s landline network from its service operations.
Elisabetta Romano (pictured above), the chief executive of Sparkle since August 2020, has been appointed to take charge of the chief network operations and wholesale office, becoming “a key manager” in the process, the company said. Romano recently managed the protection of TIM’s infrastructure from damage, signing a pact with the Italian Navy to guard its fibre-optic infrastructure from the sabotage of its undersea cables.
Romano will take over from the departing Siragusa, who has quit his position as deputy general manager and chief network operations and wholesale officer. Siragusa will leave the company by mutual agreement to pursue new opportunities, TIM has announced.
Meanwhile as TIM battles to keep its customers, it has agreed to allow sports broadcaster DAZN to distribute the rights to Italy’s premier soccer league through third parties.
The agreement gives TIM customers the chance to watch DAZN content on digital terrestrial television, while improving their content options on the TimVision streaming platform, TIM told the Wall StreetJournal. Telecom Italia said the deal gives it a more sustainable economic model that is subject to less instability.