Telecom Italia: are they good at anything??????????

I found this article today:

MILAN (AFX) – Telecom Italia SpA says it’s talking with the Bolivian government over a possible sale of the stake it holds in the country’s telecommunications operator Entel but as yet there are no formal negotiations.

Telecom Italia previously said Entel is not a strategic asset for the group.

Telecom Italia holds a stake of just over 50 pct in Entel through a holding company controlled by its mobile unit TIM.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales is considering nationalising Entel, the Bolivian news agency ABI reported, citing comments by Morales.

Morales said his government is currently examining the nationalisation of Entel with lawyers.

Telecom Italia bought its stake in Entel in 1996 for a sum of around 610 mln usd.

Press reports in Bolivia have suggested that Telecom Italia is ready to sell control of Entel to the Bolivian state for 170 mln usd.

Aside from Telecom Italia’s stake, 44 pct of Entel is held by pension funds in the hands of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (nyse: BBV – news – people ) and Zurich Finance.

stephen.jewkes@thomson.com
AFX News Limited 2006

Now, I really don’t know too much about finance and investments, but as an Italian citizen who pays and has paid mostly all his life Telecom Italia and TIM richly for a much less than satisfactory services, I ask myself:

610 mln – 170 mln = 440 mln usd
Over 10 years, this means a loss of 44 mln usd a year! What kind of idiot makes investments like that?

I think it’s safe to say that whoever had the bright idea to invest in Entel should AT LEAST be asked: what were you thinking??!! Isn’t this the same company that has been charging Italians what the Antitrust has deemed totally illegal recharge costs for sim cards, saying that they’re necessary in order to cover their own fixed costs?

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