And then they were three: Wind and 3 merge

wolfbln · *Last edited by wolfbln; 06-08-2015 at 17:13..*

The trend to only three networks operating in a major market in Europe goes on:
After Austria, Ireland and Germany, this is going to happen in Italy and possibly later in the UK (with O2/Three): Wind and Tre (3) Italia are going to merge

Vimpelcom and CK Hutchison have reached an agreement to merge their Italian operators Wind and 3 Italia into a 50-50 joint venture, creating Italy's largest mobile operator.
Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/win...erger--1096224

I think they are not going to face much of a problem, as the Telefónica merger in Germany passed anti-trust authorities. Possibly Three/Wind has to open up for more MVNOs and give back licences.
It remains to be seen, if the new market leader in Italy will really become their prime network. Experience from Ireland showed quite big problems in the transition period and in Germany Telefónica has the most customers now but still with the worst coverage on their (partly) combined networks.

This merger can sustain a viable 3rd network in Italy (instead of two pretty weak ones), but can it crown a new king?

wco81 · 11-08-2015, 20:23

Bigger question is whether competition is diminished and prices go up.

Wind definitely was underpricing TIM and I assume 3 was as well.

I haven't tried Wind in a long time, not since before 4G so I don't know what the state of their network was.

Difference in price for the biggest prepaid data bundle between TIM and Wind appeared to be about 10 Euro, so not that big of an incentive for visitors who were using it on holiday.

Of course the price difference was big for residents who paid every month, though it seems TIM offered incentives for landline customers of theirs, while Wind didn't have a landline or other product?

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	(#1)
wolfbln (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 206 Join Date: 14 Jul 2014 Country:	And then they were three: Wind and 3 merge - 06-08-2015, 17:07 The trend to only three networks operating in a major market in Europe goes on: After Austria, Ireland and Germany, this is going to happen in Italy and possibly later in the UK (with O2/Three): Wind and Tre (3) Italia are going to merge Vimpelcom and CK Hutchison have reached an agreement to merge their Italian operators Wind and 3 Italia into a 50-50 joint venture, creating Italy's largest mobile operator. Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/win...erger--1096224 I think they are not going to face much of a problem, as the Telefónica merger in Germany passed anti-trust authorities. Possibly Three/Wind has to open up for more MVNOs and give back licences. It remains to be seen, if the new market leader in Italy will really become their prime network. Experience from Ireland showed quite big problems in the transition period and in Germany Telefónica has the most customers now but still with the worst coverage on their (partly) combined networks. This merger can sustain a viable 3rd network in Italy (instead of two pretty weak ones), but can it crown a new king? Last edited by wolfbln; 06-08-2015 at 17:13..

	(#2)
wco81 (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 304 Join Date: 17 Jun 2007 Country:	11-08-2015, 20:23 Bigger question is whether competition is diminished and prices go up. Wind definitely was underpricing TIM and I assume 3 was as well. I haven't tried Wind in a long time, not since before 4G so I don't know what the state of their network was. Difference in price for the biggest prepaid data bundle between TIM and Wind appeared to be about 10 Euro, so not that big of an incentive for visitors who were using it on holiday. Of course the price difference was big for residents who paid every month, though it seems TIM offered incentives for landline customers of theirs, while Wind didn't have a landline or other product?