MILAN (Reuters) - Shares in Telecom Italia (>> Telecom Italia SpA) shed 3 percent in early trade on Tuesday, a move traders attributed to an Italian newspaper report that the fate of its profitable Brazilian unit is still unclear.

Il Sole 24 Ore wrote on Tuesday that Pactual, the Brazilian bank advising TIM Brasil (>> TIM Participacoes SA), received no bids higher than 6 billion euros ($8.2 billion) for the South American unit.

Activist investor Marco Fossati has been pushing for a merger between Tim Brasil and French media group Vivendi's (>> VIVENDI) local unit GVT, and there had been expectations TIM Brazil would attract higher bids.

"Given there is no formal sale process, the indication may not be the full valuation Telecom can get in case an auction starts, but nonetheless recent rumours were more bullish than this outcome," a Milan-based brokerage said in its morning note to the market.

Telecom Italia shares were quoted at 0.83 euros at 0820 GMT, down 2.41 percent on the day against a broadly flat Milan stock index. ($1 = 0.7327 euros)

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; editing by Francesca Landini)

Stocks treated in this article : VIVENDI, Telecom Italia SpA, TIM Participacoes SA