The European Union's highest court gave Telecom Italia a huge windfall today, ruling that fees charged to telecom companies by the Italian state were illegal.
Between 1999 and the end of 2003 the fees charged to Telecom Italia to provide services in Italy totalled about €2 billion.
"Community rules in the telecommunications sector prohibit member states from imposing financial charges on licence holders which are calculated on the basis of their turnover," the European Court of Justice said in a statement.
Telecom Italia shares added to earlier gains on the news, climbing two per cent to €2.26, outperforming a 0.4 per cent rise for the DJ Stoxx index of European telecoms stocks.
Telecom Italia chairman Mr Marco Tronchetti Provera has previously said revoking the fees would allow the group to cut its debt levels to about €28 billion by the end of 2004, below a target of €30.6 billion.