Telecom Italia has now rebranded its fixed, mobile and Internet services under the TIM brand on the 20th anniversary since the erstwhile mobile-only brand was first launched.
The new www.tim.it web site now incorporates all services previously marketed separately under Telecom Italia and TIM, and heralds a new era at the Italian operator as it pursues its ambition to become a fully converged operator.
Telecom Italia had previously said that all retail operations would be brought under the TIM brand in 2016, so the rebrand has come earlier than planned.
"Having always stood for innovation, sharing and freedom, the single brand TIM now simplifies the brand architecture and the relationship with its customers," the company said.
The company said in February it had started the process of unifying its fixed, mobile and Internet offers under TIM as a single commercial brand. TIM is also used to market mobile services in Brazil. In addition, content services previously sold under the "Cubo" brand have now been rebranded under TIM.
Telecom Italia has already seen considerable changes in 2015, not least to its shareholder structure: in June, France-based Vivendi became the largest shareholder in Telecom Italia after purchasing a total stake of 14.9 per cent, replacing long-term investor Telefónica.
The company has also seen some signs of an improvement in its financial situation, after suffering years of losses in the presence of high levels of debt. In March, it reported it had turned an annual profit for the first time in three years, posting a consolidated net profit of €1.35 billion ($1.48 billion) in 2014 compared to a loss of €674 million in 2013.
At the time, chairman Giuseppe Recchi said the return to net profit was a reason for "great satisfaction" for the company, which has struggled with debt in recent years and saw its credit rating downgraded to junk status. The net financial debt stood at €26.6 billion at the end of 2014, down by €156 million compared to 2013.
In February, the company unveiled a new three-year plan that will see a total of €14.5 billion spent on investments in Italy and Brazil from 2015-2017. Around €10 billion has been earmarked for investments in Italy including the expansion of fibre (to 75 per cent population coverage) and LTE (to 95 per cent coverage), while more than €4 billion is to be spent on improving 3G and 4G coverage in Brazil.
The new TIM competes on the mobile market with Vodafone Italy, Hutchison Whampoa's Three Italy and VimpelCom-owned Wind. In May, Hutchison and VimpelCom confirmed that they are in exploratory talks to merge their respective Italian mobile units in a joint venture.
For more:
- see this Telecom Italia release (in Italian)
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