TIM confirms its network head is in fact leaving

Having made a statement earlier in the week insisting network chief Stefano Siragusa was not leaving over internal disagreements, Italian operator TIM has announced today he is leaving ‘by mutual agreement.’

After going out of its way earlier in the week to refute rumours that Chief Network Operations & Wholesale Officer Stefano Siragusa was about to exit the firm due to some sort of disagreements within the management, TIM has today announced that he will leave the Group ‘by mutual agreement to take up new professional opportunities.’

Rumours were flying around over the weekend that Siragusa was about to exit the firm after some sort of disagreement within management, which seemed to have originated from Reuters and Bloomberg, who often run stories charting the operator’s ongoing saga based on ‘sources familiar with the matter’. The operator chose to jump on this swiftly and put out a statement which read:

“With reference to allegations in the press about managers leaving TIM’s top management, the company clarifies that it has not made any announcement on the matter at the present time. More generally, allusions about exits dictated by disagreements with the company’s strategic line, which continues as planned, led by a renewed, cohesive management team focused on the objectives to be achieved, are to be rejected.”

However today it was confirmed he is in fact leaving, though of course we can’t know the internal conversations that have led to this. The company said today:

“We give Stefano Siragusa our heartfelt thanks for the important work done and for the particularly significant results achieved, as well as for the remarkable managerial contribution made in the interests of the company and the Group. Stefano Siragusa, who holds 829,157 ordinary shares in TIM, will receive severance pay in accordance with the remuneration policy approved by the Shareholders’ Meeting on 7 April 2022.”

His replacement was announced simultaneously as Elisabetta Romano. She joined the Italian operator in July 2018 as Chief Technology Officer, and the following year was appointed Head of the Chief Innovation and Partnership Office. For the last two years she has been CEO of TIM’s Sparkle business. The second announcement reads:

“Elisabetta Romano has extensive experience in the Telecommunications and Media sector, gained in particularly challenging environments, both in Italy and abroad. At TIM she has held top positions in the technology and innovation sectors. Since August 2020 she has been CEO of Sparkle. Elisabetta Romano becomes a key manager. Stefano Siragusa’s key manager appointment is withdrawn at the same time.”

Which is a rather blunt note to end on. Presumably the refutation earlier in the week was about the exact nature of Siragusa’s exit, as in whether or not there were ‘disagreements’ that led to it. This sounds a bit like semantics really, but you can’t really expect corporations to be entirely transparent about the details that surround boardroom politics.

Elsewhere TIM reported its Q2 financials today, which showed EBITDA after lease was €1.3 billion (down 12.3% YoY), group revenues were €3.9 billion (up 1.4% YoY), and group service revenues were €3.6 billion (up 1.0% YoY).

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