On 31 December 2016, the merger between 3 Italy and Wind into Wind Tre was completed. This merger project, carried out by CK Hutchison Holdings and VimpelCom, envisaged the creation of an equal joint venture to combine telephony services in Italy.[4][5] However, the Wind brand remained active until 16 March 2020, when it was replaced by the single Wind Tre brand.[6]
Wind had 21.6 million mobile customers with a market share of 22.9% (placing itself behind TIM and Vodafone) 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 Telecom Italia). 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.[7]
In 2011 Wind became part of VimpelCom group, after a merger between the Russian company and the EgyptianOrascom Telecom: the newborn group appointed Khaled Bichara Chairman of Wind and Ossama Bessada CEO, after Luigi Gubitosi's exit.[2]
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 TIM and Vodafone.[9]
On December 31, 2016, Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. was merged with H3G S.p.A. into Wind Tre S.p.A.[5]
Despite the merger, the Wind and Infostrada brands continued to operate independently of the 3 Italy brand in the private sector.
On May 23, 2017 Wind Business was merged with 3 Business, giving life to Wind Tre Business, which combines all the services dedicated to VAT-registered customers and companies.[10]
On March 16, 2020, after the merger of the Wind-3 mobile networks completed at the end of 2019, the company carried out a rebranding, replacing the old Wind and 3 Italy brands with the new Wind Tre single brand, both for mobile telephony and for fixed-line telephony.[6]
Awards
In 2009, it launched a project named 10decimi which was meant to facilitate the communication between donors and the charities they support.[11] The venture won them the "Lombard Elite – The Milan Finance Company" award for their dedication to corporate social responsibility.[12]
At the end of 1996 the company had 430 employees and closed the first financial year with a turnover of 72 billion lire.[15]
In 1997 Mannesmann took over from the Americanpartner, controlling Infostrada through the Dutch Olivetti Mobile Telephony Services, then OliMan (50.1% Olivetti, 49.9% Mannesmann),[16] which will also become a shareholder of Omnitel.
In 1998 Infostrada reached an agreement with Ferrovie dello Stato which provides for the acquisition of the right to access the infrastructure of the FS for the laying of telephone cables and the right to use part of the optical fiber cables of the FS network (approximately 1770 km), for 30 years.
In 1999 Olivetti sells Infostrada to Mannesmann and in 2001 it will become the property of Enel, which will incorporate it in 2002 into Wind Telecomunicationi S.p.A., that continued to use the brand.[3]
On December 31, 2016, Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. merged into Wind Tre S.p.A., and as also happened for Wind, the brand will still be used by the company until the rebranding in March 2020.[6]
