WIND (Italy)

Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA
Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunications
Founded 1997
Headquarters Rome, Italy
Key people
 Jo Olav Lunder (Chairman), Maximo Ibarra (CEO)
Products Fixed telephony
Mobile telephony
Broadband Internet
IT Services
IPTV
Revenue Increase €4,983 billion (2013)
Increase €667 million (2013)
Increase €254 million (2013)
Number of employees
 6,910 (2013)
Parent Wind Telecom
Website http://www.windgroup.it/eng/

Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA (also known as Wind Italy) is an Italian telecom operator which offers integrated mobile, fixed and Internet services (under Wind brand for mobile and business services and under Infostrada brand for home). Wind Italy has approximately 22,400,000 mobile customers with a market share of 24.3% (placing itself behind TIM and Vodafone Italy) and 5,200,000 customers on fixed lines with a market share of 11.4% (that makes it the second largest fixed line operator, behind Telecom Italia). The company serves through a network of 163 owned stores and around 517 exclusive franchised outlets under the WIND brand, as well as 396 electronic chain stores.[1]

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 currently runs 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]

Sponsorship

Wind was the main sponsor of A.S. Roma football club until 2013.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA: Private Company Information - Businessweek". investing.businessweek.com. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
  2. ↑ Danilo Masoni and Leila Abboud (12 April 2013). "Italy's Wind to invest $1.3 billion in network with Huawei". Reuters.

External links