Sphere
#39
2015
24
<<
Viva Italia!
Radio Marconi!
The claim by Guglielmo Giovanni Maria
Marconi (1874–1937) to be the inventor of
the radio has been much less controversial.
Indeed, the most famous case of when
radio was not being used, that is, during the
Titanic
disaster, led to laws demanding that
his device be used 24/7 to monitor distress
channels used by ships at sea.
Born to mixed Italian-British parentage, he
was an average performer in school but a
genius of invention. Working with his family
butler as his lab assistant, he invented a
lightning detector for storm prediction and
shortly afterwards devised a means for
making a bell ring across the room – without
the use of wires.
He was just 20 at the time. With his
shocked parents’ support and after further
developing his invention, he went to
Britain in 1896 to continue his research.
He established the “Wireless Telegraph
and Signal Company” in 1897, later to be
renamed the Marconi Company.
He conducted a series of experiments in
Britain and Italy, furthering the reach of
his device. He proved naysayers wrong
and demonstrated that transatlantic
transmission was possible. While some
3 Italia: CK HutcHison’s
commitment to Italy
With the technology descended
from the great Italian inventors, CK
Hutchison has been providing Italians
with cellular phones services, wireless
Internet services and mobile television
through
3
Italia since the turn of the
millennium.
With 10.1 million activated SIM cards,
3
Italia is ranked the fourth largest
telecoms provider in Italy. Recent
research has shown that
3
Italia’s
customers use smartphones and the
Internet twice as much as the Italian
average. These numbers will likely grow
much bigger very soon.
The proposed merger
On 6 August 2015, CK Hutchison
announced it will form a joint venture
with VimpelCom of their telecoms
businesses in Italy* –
3
Italia and
WIND – in one of the largest merger
and acquisition deals to be done in that
country since 2007.
Canning Fok, Co-Group Managing
Director of CK Hutchison, believes
this deal represents a major milestone
for CK Hutchison’s Italian business,
saying “This transaction underlines CK
Hutchison’s continuing confidence
in the Italian economy, and its
commitment to the development of
nationwide digital infrastructure and
services in Italy.”
With over 31 million mobile customers
and 2.8 million fixed line customers (of
which 2.2 million are fixed-broadband
customers) combined, the two will join
hands to become a leading operator
in Europe’s fourth largest telecoms
market.
1+1>2
Today,
3
Italia’s 4G LTE network
reaches 54 per cent of the Italian
population in more than 1,000 towns
and cities. The company’s fast mobile
Internet 3G network reaches 97 per
cent of Italians.
The combination of the two networks,
together with significant additional
investment, will enable Italian mobile
users to enjoy even broader LTE
network coverage, higher download
speeds, higher network reliability and
more advanced services. Non vedo
l’ora! (I can’t wait!)
* Completion is subject to obtaining
regulatory approvals including EU
competition approva
l.
Today’s era of mobile
telephony owes a huge debt
to the inventive spirit of
both Marconi and Meucci.
