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BT Italia S.p.A. is a
telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
company in Italy, it is the second largest business telecommunication operator in the Italian market, controlling an 11% share. It is owned by
BT Group BT Group plc (formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-li ...
.


History

The company is the result of a series of industrial ventures and
mergers Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
that started with the founding of ''Albacom'' in 1995, then a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
of BT, BNL,
ENI Eni is an Italian oil and gas corporation. Eni or ENI may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Escuela Nacional de Inteligencia, the Argentine intelligence academy * Groupe des écoles nationales d’ingénieurs (Groupe ENI), a French engi ...
and
Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...
, each company controlling a 25% share. BT acted as the industrial partner, whereas the three other companies outsourced most or all of their telecommunication needs to Albacom, BNL significantly contributing its
packet-switched network In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data into short messages in fixed format, i.e. '' packets,'' that are transmitted over a digital network. Packets consist of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used b ...
that served as the basis of Albacom's trunk. The captive business kick-started Albacom's presence in the Italian TLC market, and enabled the company to aggressively start selling its services in the market at large. In a separate deal, BT acquired in 2001 a controlling stake in the then-booming I.NET, founded in 1994 as an
ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non ...
and fast growing in the datacenter and IT services business with a strong emphasis on IT security. I.NET had been floated in 2000 on
Milan Stock Exchange Borsa Italiana () or Borsa di Milano (), based in Milan at Mezzanotte Palace, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervi ...
, and kept operating independently, and BT's influence on its policy was through the board of directors where however it did not hold any executive post. In 2002-2005 Albacom suffered from slowing growth and its financials turned into red; in the same time frame the non-TLC partners negotiated with BT an exit from the venture which was finalized in 2005 with BT acquiring 100% of the capital and Albacom (that closely afterwards was renamed as BT Albacom) keeping long-term contracts with all three former shareholders. In 2006, BT won a multi-year worldwide outsourcing contract with
FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...
, that included the purchase of Atlanet, FIAT's TLC venture. Atlanet was then merged with Albacom to become BT Italia. In 2007, BT made a public offer to purchase 100% of I.NET's capital, acknowledging a plan to merge the company into BT Italia and delisting the resulting company. Although some investors, that did not agree on delisting and had some doubts on the industrial plan, brought on litigation, the merger was completed on 11 January, 2008 and I.NET was delisted the same day. At the same time BT Italia acquires ERPTech S.p.A.. On 18 October 2019, BT launches the new logo and the new slogan "Beyond Limits".


References


External links

* {{BT Group Telecommunications companies of Italy Internet service providers of Italy Telecommunications companies established in 2006 BT Group