Telecom Italia's acquisition of Time Warner's AOL German ISP business for €675 million in cash is sure to springboard their IPTV service in Germany. The acquisition is in line with the company's major reorganization, which has split the company in two with one unit focusing entirely on broadband.

Telecom Italia already has operations in Germany under the name HanseNet Telekommunikation GmbH. HanseNet offers broadband and IPTV through the service named "Alice".

The move to acquire AOL's business will help Telecom Italia in their efforts to compete against the IPTV services offered by Deutsche Telekom and Spain's Telefonica.

The acquisition makes Telecom Italia the second largest broadband provider in Germany, serving more than 3.2 million total subscribers, including 2 million broadband customers.