Private company

Wind Telecomunicazioni

Logo: Wind Tre S.p.A., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons3

Former Italian telecommunications company

Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A., more commonly known as Wind, was an Italian telecommunications company of the VimpelCom Ltd. group, which offered mobile telephony services and, through Infostrada, also fixed-line telephony services, Internet and IPTV. It was founded on 1 December 1997 by Enel, France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom, and then passed in 2005 under the control of Weather Investments, which in 2011 became part of the VimpelCom group.2 Its chief executive is Maximo Ibarra (since 2008).1 Its revenue was €4.6 billion in 2014.1 It is part of VEON.1 It ceased to exist in 2016.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 20, 2026.

Overview

Dec 1, 1997Founded1
  • Industrytelecommunications industry1
  • HeadquartersRome1
  • Founded inRome1
  • Websitewww.wind.it
  • Legal formsocietà per azioni1

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Sede Wind Rho
Photo: Federico Leoni, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

Wind Telecomunicazioni S.p.A., more commonly known as Wind, was an Italian telecommunications company of the VimpelCom Ltd. group, which offered mobile telephony services and, through Infostrada, also fixed-line telephony services, Internet and IPTV.2

Corporate structure

Wind Telecomunicazioni is part of a group headed by VEON. 43 entities, 12 countries on record. Switch between the flow chart and the network, and select any entity to see its details.

Built from parent and subsidiary links from GLEIF, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (CC0); subsidiaries, stakes and holdings from Wikidata (CC0). Each entity in the chart links to its source.

What it owns

What Wind Telecomunicazioni reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Stakes and holdings (Wikidata)

Things Wikidata records the company as owning, with the share when stated.1

The story

Founded by Deutsche Telekom, Enel and France Télécom on Dec 1, 1997, in Rome.1

Wind was established on 1 December 1997 by Enel, France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom, which sold Wind in 2005 to Weather Investments.

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, that continued to use the brand.

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 (formerly SIP) and Vodafone (formerly Omnitel).

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 TIM and Vodafone.

During 2015 and 2016, an agreement was stipulated between CK Hutchison Holdings, owner of 3 Italy, and VimpelCom for the creation of an equal joint venture in Italy.

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On December 31, 2016, Wind was merged with 3 Italy into Wind Tre.

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.

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.

From Wikipedia’s article on Wind Telecomunicazioni, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Leadership

Who has led Wind Telecomunicazioni, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Chief executive

  1. Maximo Ibarra2008–now
200020052010201520202025

Products and brands

  • mobile telephony

Listed on Wikidata.1

Subsidiaries and ownership

Parent company

Owners

Subsidiaries

From Wikidata.1

Acquisitions

  1. 2002Acquired ItaliaOnLine1
  2. Succeeded by Wind Tre1

Revenue over time

As stated on Wikidata, in the currency reported.

Revenue

  • 20144.6B EUR1

Net income

  • 2014-709.0M EUR1

Timeline

  1. Dec 31, 2016Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 2008New chief executive Maximo Ibarra becomes CEO1
  3. Dec 1, 1997Founded Founded in Rome1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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