Telit SpA, the company to be formed by the proposed merger of Italian state-owned Italtel SpA and Fiat SpA’s Telettra subsidiary, doesn’t legally exist yet, but Siemens AG is putting in its marker for the future. According to the Financial Times, Siemens has declared that it is interested in negotiating a series of joint ventures with Telit, notably by selling to Telit a 50% stake in the big Italian operations of GTE Corp that Siemens acquired last year. The moves are part of a grand strategy under which Siemens sees the possibility of recreating the Germano-Italian Axis to garner an 18% share of the European telecommunications market, in which Siemens currently claims 11.6% while Italtel has 6.4%. Fiat and Stet, Italtel’s parent, will each have about 48% of Telit, and Fiat says that the company will be autonomous under its own management; it is however thought to prefer an alliance with L M Ericsson AB of Sweden over a Siemens link.
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