Italy's TIM to shift half of domestic staff into NetCo - sources

MILAN (Reuters) - Telecom Italia (TIM) plans to shift about 21,000 workers, or nearly half of its 42,500 staff in Italy, into a network company it intends to create as part of its restructuring plan, two sources familiar with the matter said. The so-called NetCo comprises TIM's domestic fixed access network and international submarine cable unit Sparkle, and would assume about 10-11 billion euros of the debt held by Italy's biggest telecoms group, the people added.

Cash proceeds stemming from a potential network deal with Open Fiber will help further reduce TIM's debt pile below 10 billion euros, one of the sources said. As of March 31, TIM's net debt stood at around 23 billion euros.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Keith Weir)