Blu (company)

Blu SpA was an Italian telecommunications company that was active in the fixed line , mobile and Internet sectors. The company was founded in 1999 and owned its own cellular network before going out of business in 2002.

history

Company logo

In the summer of 1998, a consortium made up of Autostrade, British telecom, Distacom, Edizioni Holding, Mediaset, Bnl, Italgas and the Caltagirone group began to plan the development of a new cellular network. On April 19, 1999, the consortium founded the company under the name Spa and received a license for a GSM cellular service in Italy on August 4, with Nokia and Nortel becoming other partner companies. A roaming arrival ensured that the new provider could offer its services nationwide right from the start. By the time it was launched on May 15, 2000, 650 employees had been hired and a network of 600 branches had been established.

The company used frequencies in the 1800 MHz band. At the end of September 2000, 430,000 customers were acquired. Due to differences between British Telecom and other shareholders over the allocation of shares, the company, which had far exceeded its original target of 350,000 customers and was economically sound, lost the originally promised award in the bidding process for UMTS licenses. Despite the introduction of GPRS and landline telephony in December 2000, which enabled the company to recapitalize the company for 700 billion lire with around 1,600,000 customers by August 31, 2001 (13 percent of new activations), the company's decline could not be prevented become. On October 8, 2002, the company ceased network operations, and customers were distributed to other providers through sales. Some of the existing customers remained in the Telecom Italia Mobile network via national roaming , and Wind Telecomunicazioni subsequently took over the operational business and the migration of these customers to its own network . The transmission systems were divided up or dismantled among the other market participants Tre Wind and Vodafone, the freed frequencies were only partially auctioned again by Tre in 2011 in the course of the LTE auction.

Individual evidence

↑ BLU: LA STORIA - 4 ANNI VISSUTI CERCANDO 'FUTURO CHE NON C'ERA'. Adnkronos, October 8, 2002
↑ Marco Canesi, Franco Chiaramonte; Lavorare in Lombardia: mutamenti strutturali e nuovi obiettivi di sviluppo, ISBN 9788846440075
↑ IG IM (10.67) - Nessun acquirente in vista per il 43% di Italgas detenuto dall'Eni IDEAglobal. Italgas Spa, January 19, 2001
^ Stefano Caviglia: Blu, è scontro tra gli azionisti. repubblica.it, October 16, 2000
↑ Umts, Blu si ritira l'asta fallisce. repubblica.it, October 23, 2000
↑ Stefano Caviglia: Gprs, sul mercato il cellulare per navigare (piano) su Internet. repubblica.it, December 15, 2000
↑ BLU: COMPAGNIA NATA CON SLOGAN IL FUTURO CHE NON C'ERA (3). Adnkronos, August 5, 2002
↑ Addio rete Bludal. Cellularitalia, October 8, 2002

[1] BLU: LA STORIA - 4 ANNI VISSUTI CERCANDO 'FUTURO CHE NON C'ERA'. Adnkronos, October 8, 2002

[2] Marco Canesi, Franco Chiaramonte; Lavorare in Lombardia: mutamenti strutturali e nuovi obiettivi di sviluppo, ISBN 9788846440075

[3] IG IM (10.67) - Nessun acquirente in vista per il 43% di Italgas detenuto dall'Eni IDEAglobal. Italgas Spa, January 19, 2001

[4] Stefano Caviglia: Blu, è scontro tra gli azionisti. repubblica.it, October 16, 2000

[5] Umts, Blu si ritira l'asta fallisce. repubblica.it, October 23, 2000

[6] Stefano Caviglia: Gprs, sul mercato il cellulare per navigare (piano) su Internet. repubblica.it, December 15, 2000

[7] BLU: COMPAGNIA NATA CON SLOGAN IL FUTURO CHE NON C'ERA (3). Adnkronos, August 5, 2002

[8] Addio rete Bludal. Cellularitalia, October 8, 2002