Wind Three is the reality: Italy has a new telephone operator – International Business Times Italia

in The end the wedding of the century in the telecommunications sector, the one between Wind and 3 Italia, it is celebrated. Not that is a surprise, but it was necessary to “exchange the rings”, which is the official one: this last one came on December 31, 2016, the day of dinners, of good resolutions for the new year and, apparently, also for the conclusion of big business.

“From 31 December 2016 is operational on the Italian market of telecommunications, Wind Three, the largest national mobile telephony with over 31 million customers and 2.7 million in fixed”, they explain from the new company. “The new company, born from the merger of the two companies operating H3G S. p.a A and Wind Telecomunicazioni spa as a result of the joint venture created by CK Hutchison and VimpelCom, is led by Maximo Ibarra”.

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over the past few months was leaked as the merger between Wind and 3 Italia would have been completed already this year: the two companies have chosen the last hours of the 2016 to conclude the operation, which in recent months has gradually received the “all clear” of all relevant bodies, both national and european.

In the press release announcing the completion of the operation, Wind Three says to be ready to invest 7 billion euros in digital infrastructure in the next few years, thanks to a “new financial capacity and the industrial” which, in the expectations of the new giant of telecommunications, will enable them to provide services that are innovative, of high quality and increased speed of the network in line with the growing demand for connectivity, and the expectations of consumption of households and enterprises”.

a Few months ago, CK Hutchison and VimpelCom have obtained the approval of their merger by the European Commission, which has, however, made it necessary to offer some so-called “structural solutions”. Among these, the main one is the sale of assets in order to allow the entry into the Italian market of a new operator, specifically, will be the French Iliad, with its low cost fees so successful that they got across the alps.

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Subsequently, AGCOM and the Ministry for Economic Development had given the green light to the union between Wind and 3 Italia: the authority for communications had explained how the merger would not exceed the limits of the Italian antitrust, as the revenues of the new company does not exceed 40% of those of the overall sector.

“Starts a great challenge of the market, an important phase of development for the digital economy in our country,” explained the new CEO Maximo Ibarra. “We want to be the leader in the relationship with customers thanks to the quality of our infrastructure, the transparency of our offers and to the passion of our people.”