Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Italy was an Italian telecommunications company and part of the Vodafone Group for most of its existence, until 31 December 2024.
The company was subsequently acquired by the Swiss telecommunications group Swisscom and integrated into its Italian subsidiary Fastweb under the Fastweb + 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. The company's headquarters were in Ivrea and Milan.
Founded in 1994 as Omnitel, in 2001, following the acquisition by the Vodafone Group, it changed its name to Omnitel Vodafone, in 2002 it changed again to Vodafone Omnitel, and then in 2003 it took on its final name.
On December 31, 2024, it was acquired by Swisscom. At the same time, the integration process with Fastweb began, and both companies started being managed by a single Executive Committee under the corporate brand Fastweb + Vodafone.
As of March 2022, it had 30,153,000 mobile phone customers and 3,182,000 fixed phone lines, with respectively a market share of 28.5% and 16%.
Since taking over the company, Vodafone introduced in Italy services like Vodafone live!, the 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks, DSL, fiber-optic and FWA services, and Mobile Virtual Network Operators for other corporations.
Vodafone's main competitors were Iliad, TIM and Wind Tre.
History
In December 1995, Omnitel Sistemi Radiocellulari Italiani and Pronto Italia merged into Omnitel Pronto Italia, which launched a mobile telephony service, the second in Italy after TIM. Olivetti, the original majority shareholder, through Omnitel and Infostrada, thus competed with Telecom Italia, which until then monopolized the entire telecommunications sector in Italy.In 1999, Olivetti sold its interest in Omnitel and Infostrada to the German consortium Mannesmann, after Olivetti took control of Telecom Italia. By this time, Mannesmann had a majority stake in Omnitel with a 53.7% equity stake. The following year, Vodafone merged with Mannesmann thereby taking control of Omnitel. The merger led in 2001 to the change of company name to Omnitel Vodafone, and in 2002 to Vodafone Omnitel, and in the same year the registered office was transferred from Ivrea to Amsterdam, thus passing from being a società per azioni legally registered in Italy to a naamloze vennootschap legally registered in the Netherlands
In 2004, the company launched UMTS services in 140 cities. Two years later, it lso launched HSPA services.
In 2007, Vodafone bought the Italian and Spanish branches of Tele2.
Following the acquisition of Tele2 Italia, in 2008, Vodafone launched in Italy XDSL services, offering Wi-Fi and VoIP to its customers, and between 2013 and 2014, launched also FTTX services.
In 2012 has enabled LTE technology services in Milan and Rome.
On 16 December 2013, following Verizon's sale of the entire share capital held in the company to Vodafone, it was transformed into a besloten vennootschap.''''
Between 2014 and 2015, started enabling LTE-A and VoLTE services to its mobile customers, and in 2017 launched LTE-A Pro services in Milan, Palermo and Florence.
On 23 November 2015, the company moved its legal residence in Turin, returning to be a joint-stock company legally registered in Italy.
On 23 January 2017, Vodafone launched the brand Ho Mobile, to provide low-cost mobile telephony services in competition with Iliad. It was owned by Vodafone until its acquisition by Fastweb.
In 2019 launched 5G NR services in Milan, Rome, Turin, Naples and Bologna. Its GigaNetwork 5G is considered the evolution of the previous GigaNetwork 4.5G, which has been re-used to launch the 5G service.
In 2021 the company shuts down its 3G network, in order to enhance the 4G 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 subsidiary Fastweb. As part of the agreement, Vodafone will continue to provide certain services to Fastweb, including brand licensing, for up to five years.
In September 2024, the Antitrust Authority published a notice of investigation and launched an inquiry. Swisscom announced that the European Commission had approved the acquisition of Vodafone Italia under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation. The transaction was subsequently approved by AGCOM and AGCM in November and December 2024, respectively.
In October 2024, CoopVoce signed an agreement with Vodafone to extend mobile network coverage and implement 5G.
On November 15, 2024, Sabrina Casalta, the company's Chief Financial Officer, was appointed interim CEO, replacing Aldo Bisio, who remained a non-executive board member until the completion of the transaction with Swisscom.
On December 31, 2024, Swisscom completed the acquisition of Vodafone Italia, giving rise to Fastweb + Vodafone.
Brand identity
Evolution of the company brand and logo:- In 1994 the company debuted on the market with the Omnitel brand.
- In 2001, following the takeover of Vodafone Group as shareholder, the brand became Omnitel Vodafone.
- In 2002 the brand was changed to Vodafone Omnitel, to symbolize the progressive transition from Omnitel to Vodafone.
- In 2003, the Omnitel brand was definitively abandoned in favor of Vodafone.
Network and coverage
Mobile network
As of March 31, 2022 Vodafone Italy's mobile network is made from 21,785 physical sites, including:The national mobile network covers: