Judge drops SIM cards case against ex-Telecom Italia managers

ROME (Reuters) - A Rome judge has decided to drop 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, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

The three executives are former Telecom Italia chief executive Riccardo Ruggiero and two former managers at the company's mobile unit, TIM, Massimo Castelli and Luca Luciani.

The investigation, transferred to Rome from Milan a few months ago, was looking into allegations that client data for 5.3 million SIM cards had been tampered with in the period 2006-2008.

(Corrects reason for dropping case)

(Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri; Writing by Danilo Masoni; Editing by Giselda Vagnoni, Greg Mahlich)