Wind (Italy)
Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A., also known as Wind, was an Italian telecommunications company that offered integrated mobile, fixed telephony and Internet services (under "Wind" brand for mobile and business services and under "Infostrada" brand for home). Wind 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. In December 2016, Wind merged with 3 Italy to form Wind Tre. 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 S.p.A.). 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. On August 6, 2015, VimpelCom and CK Hutchison Holdings (the owner of 3 Italy) 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. as the country’s largest wireless provider by customers. On March 6, 2020, the unification process with H3G. began. Awards. In 2009, it launched a project named 10decimi which was meant to facilitate the communication between donors and the charities they support. The venture won them the "Lombard Elite – The Milan Finance Company" award for  their dedication to corporate social responsibility. In 2015, it was awarded the title of telecommunications operator of the Year in Italy. Sponsorship. Wind was the main sponsor of A.S. Roma football club from 2007 to 2013. Infostrada. Infostrada S.p.A. was the operator of the Wind group that dealt with its fixed telephony services, xDSL and optical fiber. It was born in 1996 from an agreement between Olivetti Telemedia and Bell Atlantic, with the aim of competing with Telecom Italia in the fixed telephony sector. At the end of 1996 the company had 430 employees and closed the first financial  year with a turnover of 72 billion lire. In 1997 Mannesmann took over from the American partner, controlling Infostrada through the Dutch Olivetti Mobile Telephony Services B.V., then OliMan B.V. (50.1% Olivetti, 49.9% Mannesmann), which will also become a shareholder of Omnitel. In 1998 Infostrada reached an agreement with Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane 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 Telecomunicazioni S.p.A. From 31 December 2016, Infostrada becomes part, together with its parent company Wind, of the Wind Tre S.p.A. group, a 50/50 joint venture of VimpelCom (later renamed VEON) and CK Hutchison Holdings. From March 16, 2020, with the adoption of the single Wind Tre brand, both mobile and fixed-line telephony offers are marketed under the new brand only.