(Telecompaper) Vodafone has joined the competition for a stake in Milan-based broadband provider Metroweb, according to unnamed sources cited by the Ansa news agency. The report suggests that Vodafone may be interested in bidding for the 54 percent stake in holding company Metroweb Italia owned by infrastructure fund F2i. Last month Telecom Italia confirmed that CEO Marco Patuano had been given a mandate to make an offer for Metroweb, a possibility that was welcomed at the time by Metroweb CEO Alberto Trondoli, who said the transaction would make "great sense, especially from an industrial standpoint". Vodafone already offers a 300 Mbps broadband service over Metroweb's fibre-optic network in Milan and has plans to expand the service to another 30 Italian cities, starting with Bologna. Metroweb is 87 percent controlled by Metroweb Italia, 54 percent of which is in the hands of F2i, with state-backed holding company Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) owning 46 percent and Italian broadband operator Fastweb retaining an 11 percent stake.