 | |
 Vodafone's headquarters in Milan, Italy. | |
| Formerly | Omnitel Pronto Italia S.p.A. (1994-2002) Vodafone Omnitel S.p.A. (2002-2002) Vodafone Omnitel N.V. (2002-2013) Vodafone Omnitel B.V. (2013-2015) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | January 1994; 32 years ago (1994-01) asOmnitel |
| Founder | |
| Defunct | 1 January 2026 |
| Successor | Fastweb |
| Headquarters | , Italy |
Area served | Italy |
Key people | |
| Products | Mobile andfixedtelephony,XDSL,FTTX andFWAcommunications,Internet |
| Brands | Ho Mobile |
| Revenue | 6,209,000,000 euro (2017)  |
| 348,000,000 euro (2017) | |
| Owner |
|
Number of employees | 6,768 (2017) |
| Parent | Fastweb (Fastweb + Vodafone) (2024–2026) |
| Website | www |
Vodafone Italy (originallyOmnitel until 2002) was an Italiantelecommunications company and part of theVodafone Group for most of its existence, until 31 December 2024.
The company was subsequently acquired by the Swiss telecommunications groupSwisscom and integrated into its Italian subsidiary Fastweb under theFastweb + Vodafone corporate brand.
On 1 January 2026, Vodafone Italia S.p.A. ceased to exist as a legal entity. However, the Vodafone trademark continues to be used in Italy by Fastweb S.p.A., under a licensing agreement with Vodafone Group, which grants the right to use the brand for a period of five years following the acquisition.[2] Thecompany's headquarters were inIvrea (TO) andMilan.
Founded in 1994 asOmnitel, in 2001, following theacquisition by theVodafone Group, it changed its name toOmnitel Vodafone, in 2002 it changed again toVodafone Omnitel, and then in 2003 it took on its final name.[3]
On December 31, 2024, it was acquired bySwisscom. At the same time, the integration process with Fastweb began, and both companies started being managed by a single Executive Committee under the corporate brandFastweb + Vodafone.[4]
As of March 2022, it had 30,153,000mobile phone customers and 3,182,000fixed phone lines, with respectively a market share of 28.5% and 16%.[5]
Since taking over thecompany, Vodafone introduced in Italy services likeVodafone live!, the3G,4G and5G mobile networks,DSL,fiber-optic andFWA services, andMobile Virtual Network Operators for othercorporations.
Vodafone's main competitors wereIliad,TIM andWind Tre.[5]
In December 1995, Omnitel Sistemi Radiocellulari Italiani (founded on June 19, 1990, byOlivetti,Lehman Brothers,Bell Atlantic andTelia) and Pronto Italia (made up ofZignago Vetro,AirTouch,Mannesmann,Banca di Roma, Arca Merchant, Comeba,Ersel,Erg,Urmet TLC,Spal TLC, Site, Ponti Radio and Fergia[6][7]) merged into Omnitel Pronto Italia,[8] which launched amobile telephonyservice, the second inItaly afterTIM (formerlySIP).[9]Olivetti, the originalmajority shareholder, through Omnitel andInfostrada (which dealt instead withfixed telephony), thus competed withTelecom Italia, which until thenmonopolized the entiretelecommunications sector in Italy.
In 1999, Olivetti sold its interest in Omnitel and Infostrada to theGermanconsortiumMannesmann, after Olivetti took control of Telecom Italia. By this time, Mannesmann had amajority stake in Omnitel with a 53.7% equity stake. The following year,Vodafonemerged with Mannesmann thereby taking control of Omnitel. The merger led in 2001 to the change ofcompany name to Omnitel Vodafone, and in 2002 to Vodafone Omnitel, and in the same year theregistered office was transferred fromIvrea (TO) toAmsterdam, thus passing from being asocietà per azioni (S.p.A.) legally registered in Italy to anaamloze vennootschap (N.V.) legally registered in theNetherlands
In 2004, the company launchedUMTS services in 140 cities. Two years later, it lso launchedHSPA services.
In 2007, Vodafone bought the Italian andSpanish branches ofTele2.[10]
Following the acquisition ofTele2 Italia (in 2010 renamedTeleTu), in 2008, Vodafone launched in ItalyXDSL services, offeringWi-Fi andVoIP to its customers, and between 2013 and 2014, launched alsoFTTX services.
In 2012 has enabledLTE technology services inMilan andRome.
On 16 December 2013, followingVerizon's sale of the entireshare capital held in the company to Vodafone, it was transformed into abesloten vennootschap (B.V.).[11]
Between 2014 and 2015, started enablingLTE-A andVoLTE services to its mobile customers, and in 2017 launchedLTE-A Pro services in Milan,Palermo andFlorence.
On 23 November 2015, the company moved itslegal residence inTurin, returning to be ajoint-stock company legally registered in Italy.[12]
On 23 January 2017, Vodafone launched thebrand Ho Mobile, to providelow-cost mobile telephony services in competition withIliad.[13] It was owned by Vodafone until its acquisition by Fastweb.
In 2019 launched5G NR services in Milan, Rome,Turin,Naples andBologna. ItsGigaNetwork 5G is considered the evolution of the previousGigaNetwork 4.5G, which has been re-used to launch the5G service.
In 2021 the company shuts down its3G network, in order to enhance the4G and 5G ones.
On March 15, 2024,Swisscom announced its intention to acquire 100% of Vodafone Italia for €8 billion, with the closing expected to take place in the first quarter of 2025, integrating it with its subsidiaryFastweb. As part of the agreement, Vodafone will continue to provide certain services to Fastweb, including brand licensing, for up to five years.[14][15][16][17][18]
In September 2024, theAntitrust Authority published a notice of investigation[19] and launched an inquiry.[20] Swisscom announced that theEuropean Commission had approved the acquisition of Vodafone Italia under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.[21] The transaction was subsequently approved by AGCOM and AGCM in November and December 2024, respectively.[22][23]
In October 2024,CoopVoce signed an agreement with Vodafone to extend mobile network coverage and implement 5G.[24]
On November 15, 2024, Sabrina Casalta, the company'sChief Financial Officer, was appointed interim CEO, replacing Aldo Bisio, who remained a non-executive board member until the completion of the transaction with Swisscom.[25]
On December 31, 2024, Swisscom completed the acquisition of Vodafone Italia, giving rise toFastweb + Vodafone.[26][4][27][28]
Evolution of the company brand and logo:[29]
As of March 31, 2022 Vodafone Italy's mobile network is made from 21,785 physical sites, including:
The national mobile network covers:
| Network | Full Speed | Coverage | System | Update | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download ↓ | Upload ↑ | Cities | Population (%) | Technology | Frequencies used | ||
| 2G | 474 kbit/s | 99.8% | GSM /GPRS /EDGE | 900 MHz | March 2022 | ||
| 4G | 150 Mbit/s | 50 Mbit/s | 7,627 | 99.0% | LTE | 700/800/900/1500/ 1800/2100/2600 MHz | |
| 225 Mbit/s | 4,000 | LTE-A/LTE-A Pro | March 2020 | ||||
| 5G | 1.8 Gbit/s | 75 Mbit/s | 60 | NR | 2100/3700 MHz | March 2022 | |
Vodafone Italy has signed international roaming agreements with 731 operators in 241 countries.[citation needed] As of June 30, 2016, about 150 of these operators in 100 countries allow customers to reach 4G LTE coverage.[citation needed]
Vodafone Italy's fixed network includes 1,254 sitesULL, 326 sitesSLU and 19,000ONU (cabinet) infiber-optic (FTTC).[citation needed]
| Technology | Full Speed | Coverage | Typology | Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download ↓ | Upload ↑ | ||||
| ADSL | 20 Mbit/s | 1 Mbit/s | WLR | ||
| ADSL2+ | 52% of the population | ULL | |||
| FTTC (VDSL2) | 100 Mbit/s | 20 Mbit/s | 102 cities | VULA | November 2018 |
| FTTC (E-VDSL) | 200 Mbit/s | 2,328 cities | SLU | May 2019 | |
| FTTH | 2.5 Gbit/s | 500 Mbit/s | 130 cities (onOpen Fiber's network) | GPON | May 2021 |
18.17 million mobile lines (for a market share of 23.3%)[5]
14.69 million consumer mobile lines (21.6%) and 3.43 million business mobile lines (34.4%) 15.43 million prepaid mobile lines (22.3%) and
2.71 million subscription mobile lines (30.7%) 3.18 million of total fixed lines (for a market share of 16%)[5]
447.400 fixed broadband lines (for a market share of 10.1%) 2.60 million fixed ultra-broadband lines (for a market share of 18%) 11.98 million SIM (of which 47% is used in applications of info-mobility andSmart card)[5]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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