Telecom Italia presented a plan to the Italian government regarding spinning off its fixed network business into a separate entity in a attempt to placate Italy’s authorities, Reuters reported.

Regulators in the country have repeatedly voiced concerns about the level of competition in the country’s telecoms sector.

Calls for network separation in Italy are nothing new but telecoms regulator Agcom ramped the pressure in recent months as it takes an increasingly close look at Telecom Italia and its relationship with largest shareholder Vivendi.

Telecom Italia CEO Amos Genish held talks with industry minister Carlo Calenda about separating the network business into another company, which the operator would fully control.

“This is a momentous turning point after talking for 20 years of the need to separate the network assets and to grant equal access to all operators,” Reuters quoted Calenda as saying.

Calenda said the government would discuss details of its talks with the operator with Agcom and explained it was too early to comment on whether the network businesses could be floated on the stock exchange in the future.

Genish said the meeting had been “very positive”, but plans were at an early stage and needed to be scrutinised by the company’s board.