As expected, the Italian energy group ENEL has taken over INFOSTRADA, Italian subsidiary of the British mobile phone operator VODAFONE for 11 bn euro. INFOSTRADA will, in a second stage, merge with the operator WIND whose current shareholders are ENEL, with 56%, and FRANCE TELECOM, the latter seeing its initial 44% stake dwindling to between 20 and 25%. The new entity to emerge from this operation will be Italy's second largest telecommunications operator. See EI of 2 and 3 October.