A Roman judge has dropped a criminal case against three former Telecom Italia managers accused of having inflated the number of mobile phone cards in use because there was no case to answer.

Former Telecom Italia chief executive Riccardo Ruggiero and two former managers at the company's mobile unit, TIM, Massimo Castelli and Luca Luciani were accused of tampering with client data on 5.3 million SIM cards between 2006-2008.

The investigation transferred to Rome from Milan a few months ago. Not much else is known about the case or the reasons for it being dropped. No one has yet to make an official statement, and the case has just been a footnote in the local press.