Iliad will unveil on Tuesday its "revolution" of telecom Italy

PARIS/MILAN (Reuters) – telecoms operator French Iliad (PA:ILD) has summoned on Tuesday a press conference to unveil its draft “revolution” of telecom Italy, where its launch as the fourth mobile operator in the country has been expected for several months.

During the presentation of its revenues for the first quarter last week, the operator founded and directed by Xavier Niel has promised that it would launch its mobile offering Italian on 21 June.

“This is the moment of truth. Get ready to change your way of life the phone,” says the operator in the Italian on one page Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) dedicated to the event for which journalists have received invitations.

The presentation will be webcast live on YouTube, it was specified.

Iliad did not want to comment.

Has the image of the manufacturer Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the operator has become accustomed to surround themselves with secrecy of its important launches, a way to create the buzz and to save an expensive advertising campaign.

At its launch in the mobile business in France in 2012, Xavier Niel himself had started the countdown by tweeting for the first time “The rocket is on the launchpad”. A rocket had appeared on a mobile site dedicated.

Hidden clues-based computer languages have hosted for several weeks in the community, active, fans to the operator.

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In Italy, the operator will not, however, rely on its reputation to its launch, initially planned for late 2017-early 2018, in a market where prices are significantly lower than those charged on the French market in 2012.

Iliad’s focus is on attractive rates and offers transparent and easy to replicate the success he has known in France, where he conquered nearly 14 million mobile subscribers in the space of seven years, or 19% of the market.

The Italian launch, the first outside of France, is a test for the group who had previously failed to buy the american T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) for $ 15 billion (12.1 billion euros). The operator has also gained a foothold in Ireland via a joint investment with Xavier Niel in the historical operator Eir.

It is also a challenge to the incumbent, Telecom Italia (MI:TLIT) whose majority shareholder is Vivendi (PA:VIV), Vodafone (LON:VOD) and Wind Tre, that control each approximately one-third of the mobile market.

The mother house of Free faces pressure from investors to find new sources of growth in the face of difficulties in his historical activity in the fixed in France.

(Gwénaëlle Barzic and Agnieszka Flak, edited by Dominique Rodriguez)