Wind (Italy)

Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. (also known as Wind Italy) was an Italian telecom operator that offered integrated mobile, fixed telephony and Internet services (under Wind brand for mobile and business services and under Infostrada brand for home). Wind Italy had 21.6 million mobile customers with a market share of 22.9% (placing itself behind TIM and Vodafone Italy) and 2.8 million customers on fixed lines with a market share of 13.2% (that makes it the second largest fixed line operator, behind TIM). The company served through a network of 159 owned stores and around 498 exclusive franchised outlets under the WIND brand, as well as 396 electronic chain stores.[1] In 2016, Wind merged with 3 Italy to form Wind Tre.

Wind
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunications
FateMerged with 3 Italy into Wind Tre
Founded1997
DefunctDecember 31, 2016 (2016-12-31)
HeadquartersMilan, Italy
Key people
Andrew Mark Davies (Chairman), Maximo Ibarra (CEO)
ProductsFixed telephony
Mobile telephony
Broadband Internet
IT Services
IPTV
Revenue €4,428 billion (2015)
€945 million (2015)
OwnerVimpelCom
Number of employees
6,865 (2015)
Websitewww.wind.it

History

Wind was established in 1997 by the Italian Electrical Company Enel, which sold Wind in 2005 to Wind Telecom S.p.A. (former Weather Investments). In 2006 the group appointed Khaled Bichara as the Chief Operating Officer of the company. In 2011 Wind became part of VimpelCom group, after a merger between the Russian company and the Egyptian Orascom Telecom: the newborn group appointed Khaled Bichara Chairman of Wind and Ossama Bessada CEO, after Luigi Gubitosi's exit.

Wind was the third mobile operator to join the Italian market (after TIM and Vodafone Italy, formerly known as Omnitel Pronto Italia).

Wind had run a GSM (900/1800/E900), GPRS, EDGE, UMTS (videocall and mobile broadband), HSPA and LTE network. While the GSM/GPRS/EDGE network is available almost everywhere, UMTS, HSPA and LTE are still expanding in the country. Wind has been also the exclusive provider for Italy of i-mode.

In April 2013, Wind announced it would be investing $1.3 billion on building a fourth-generation (4G) mobile broadband network to catch-up with its rivals Telecom Italia and Vodafone.[2]

On August 6, 2015 VimpelCom Ltd (Wind) and CK Hutchison Holdings (the owner of Hutchison 3G) have agreed to combine their Italian telecommunications units in a deal valued at 21.8 billion euros ($24 billion), creating a carrier that would unseat Telecom Italia SpA (Telecom Italia Mobile) as the country’s largest wireless provider by customers.[3]

On March 6, 2020 the unification process with Tre Italia S.p.A. began.

Awards

In 2009, it launched a project named 10decimi which was meant to facilitate the communication between donors and the charities they support.[4] The venture won them the "Lombard Elite - The Milan Finance Company" award for their dedication to Corporate Social Responsibility.[5]

In 2015, it was awarded the title of Telecommunications Operator of the Year in Italy.[6]

Sponsorship
Wind Rho Headquarters.

Wind was the main sponsor of A.S. Roma football club from 2007 to 2013.

See also

References
  1. "Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA: Private Company Information".
  2. Danilo Masoni and Leila Abboud (12 April 2013). "Italy's Wind to invest $1.3 billion in network with Huawei". Reuters.
  3. TeleGeography. "Wind Tre debuts in Italy". www.telegeography.com. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  4. Camera, Maddalena. "Con 10 decimi e Wind la solidarietà diventa interattiva (Italian)", il Giornale [online], 14 December 2009. Accessed 7 July 2015.
  5. "Wind". Accessed 7 July 2015.
  6. "Vimpelcom’s Brands Listed Among World’s Most Valuable,WIND Italy Named Telecommunications Operator of the Year For 2015", Geo TV, 7 July 2015. Accessed 7 July 2015
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