MILAN, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The head of FiberCop has

stepped down after less than seven months at the helm of the

Italian fibre optic grid operator controlled by U.S. fund KKR

, the company said.

Reuters had reported earlier on Thursday that FiberCop CEO

Luigi Ferraris had resigned.

FiberCop said in a statement that it would start looking

for a new chief executive. Meanwhile Chairman Massimo Sarmi and

a team of managers would lead the company, it added.

FiberCop was spun-off from former phone monopoly Telecom

Italia (TIM) in July, when a KKR-led consortium

completed an 18.8 billion euros ($19.6 billion) buyout of the

unit, which manages fibre cables stretching over 25 million

kilometres across Italy.

As part of the deal, Italy's Treasury took 16% of the

wholesale-only connectivity provider, which is the main piece of

Italy's telecoms infrastructure and employs some 20,000 people.

At the time, the leadership was entrusted to Ferraris, a

veteran manager who has held top positions at a number of

Italian state-backed companies, including the national railways

and utility Enel.

Ferraris, 62, had been drawing up FiberCop's business plan,

which the company is due to present early this year.

FiberCop gave no reason for his departure.

Two people close to the matter told Reuters that

Ferraris had been caught in a complex situation in which

boardroom disagreements over strategy and operations were

coupled by a difficult relation between FiberCop and its main

client, Telecom Italia.

Based on FiberCop's governance rules, the CEO is picked

by KKR with a green light by the Treasury.

($1 = 0.9593 euros)

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina; Editing by Valentina Za)