Italy's supreme court rules in favour of TIM in 1998 concession fee case, sources say

MILAN, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Italy's highest court has ruled in favour of Telecom Italia (TIM) in a concession fee case dating back to 1998, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

The dispute stems from the liberalisation of Italy's telecoms sector. TIM has been seeking to recover the licence fee it was required to pay to the state in 1998, the year after the sector was deregulated.

A lower court had ordered the Italian government to return about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to former phone monopoly, a decision the government had appealed.

Due to revaluation and accrued interest, the figure is roughly double the original amount of the licence fee, which was of just over 500 million euros. ($1 = 0.8541 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina and Marco Roberti; Writing by Sara Rossi; Editing by Valentina Za)