At the end of 2021 Linkem and Tiscali announced their intention to form a single company by combining their respective assets. Tessellis is the name of the group born from the merger: a company that operates in the telephony sector, both fixed and mobile, and ultra-broadband.
Following the new corporate structure, in September 2022, OpNet he became an operator wholesale national leader in the construction and management of 5G networks, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and fiber optics, as well as in the creation of Private Network, radio links and vertical solutions dedicated to the industrial world. OpNet has taken up the legacy of By line focusing on the design, implementation and licensing of the use of its networks to third parties. The whole part retail, separated from the company, has instead become an integral part of Tessellis. OpNet itself is majority shareholder of Tessellis (59.26% of company shares).
What changes with the acquisition of OpNet by Wind Tre
On February 2, 2024, the acquisition of OpNet by was made public Wind Tre. This is a very important operation because OpNet is the first player active in the telecommunications market in Europe to have developed a National 5G Stand Alone network and to have launched services on this technology on the market in Europe wholesale. The company, in fact, does not sell connectivity services to end customers but licenses the use of its network to partner companies (ie other operators).
Wind Tre will purchase 100% of the company into which OpNet will transfer its business unit, with the exclusion of Tessellis and the other companies controlled or participated by OpNet. The agreement provides for the sale to Wind Tre of goods and activities, including commercial development ones, directly attributable to OpNet.
With the market move just announced, Wind Tre is evidently strengthening its position especially with regards to the provision of ultrabroadband connectivity in mode wireless. OpNet, in fact, can provide its wireless services on frequencies acquired under license by the Ministry, now covering approximately 75% of the Europen population. Furthermore, maximum versatility regarding the supported technologies: 5G, LTE, WiMAX, HiperLAN, WiFi.
The agreement between Wind Tre and OpNet must now pass government and regulatory approvals. However, the parties involved point out that, in the coming months, they will implement “all preparatory actions for finalizing the closing“. In the meantime, the two companies will continue to develop their respective businesses by operating in full and absolute autonomy, in compliance with competition rules.
What does national 5G Stand Alone network mean (SA)
We said that OpNet has successfully deployed a national 5G Stand Alone network (5G SA). This term refers to a specific implementation of 5G technology, in which the network is completely autonomous and does not depend on previous generation technologies, such as 4G (LTE). The advantages are concrete and translate into a more advanced experience and better performance for users.
Abandoning the 4G approach “legacy“, OpNet (and now Wind Tre) aims to give a strong boost to digital transformation Europen, opening up the possibility of creating services and applications unimaginable with previous wireless technologies.
5G SA also looks at the concept of fixed-mobile convergence, blurring the boundary – historically very marked – between technologies usable via cable and those available wirelessly. The advantages translate into extremely low latency values, a generous one link capacity (both downstream and upstream), a wider coverage radius.
Plus, the ability to create network slice allows the resource segmentation available, in order to ensure that individual customers (even simultaneously) have profiles that fully comply with specific requirements in terms of speed, latency and reliability.
Opening image credit: iStock.com – xijian