Market share of mobile network providers in Italy 2023

In 2023, three main players dominated the Italian mobile network operator market: Telecom Italia (TIM), Wind Tre, and Vodafone. That year, TIM led the market with a market share of around 28 percent. The newcomer Iliad, by contrast, accounted for almost nine percent of the market. Furthermore, mobile virtual network operators (MNVOs) had a combined market share of 8.6 percent. 

The French disruptor

In 2018, the French low-cost provider Iliad entered the market, having acquired frequencies left by Wind Tre after the merger between its predecessors, Wind and 3 Italy. While still playing a minor role in the Italian market, that year, Iliad proved to be a strong competitor, winning access to 5G frequencies. In 2022, Iliad gained 17.5 percent of the new mobile users and accounted for 13.6 percent of the SIM cards used in the country.

The race for 5G

At the auction, Vodafone and TIM won the largest allotments in the 3.7GHz band, with an expenditure of about 2.4 billion euros each. The auction ended up raising three times the amount estimated by the government. Its design was heavily criticized by consumer protection groups, fearing operators might decide to pass the investment costs on to customers. If this happens, Iliad might not be as disruptive as it proved to be in the 4G market.