Telecom Italia looks set to finally sell off its 26.9% stake in Spanish telecoms operator Auna, majority backer of pay digital terrestrial pay-TV (DTT) platform Quiero TV.

The Spanish shareholders Endesa, Fenosa and Banco Santander are understood to be paying an estimated Euros2bn (Ptas333bn) for the Auna stake.

While the long-anticipated sell-out should ultimately put Auna on a more stable footing, it is not certain to save Quiero from more financial troubles. Auna's backers are said to be actively seeking a buyer for its 49% stake in the outfit, which was the second DTT platform to launch in Europe.

The 18-month old Quiero has struggled to attract subscribers against competition from digital satellite rivals Canal Satelite Digital (CSD) and Via Digital. It has little more than 200,000 subscribers compared with CSD's 1.19 million and Via's 750,000.

Quiero's other shareholders include Media Park (18%), Carlton Communications (6%) and Sofisclave (12%).