Since 2022, following the Tiscali-Linkemmerger, the company has acquired full control of the retailservices previously provided by Linkem (now OpNet), including the brand.[5]
From March 1999 onward, Tiscali offered "Tiscali Free Net", a subscription-free Internetservice where customers only had to pay for the time they were online. This pushed other Italian providers to repeal their fixed subscription fees, thus contributing to making the Internet accessible to the masses in Italy.
On 30 December 2021, Tiscali S.p.A. and Linkem S.p.A. approved the project for the merger by incorporation of Linkem Retail S.r.l. in Tiscali S.p.A.
On 27 April 2022, the shareholders' meetings of Tiscali and Linkem approved the merger between the two companies.
On 1 August 2022, the two companies completed the merger process: Tiscali S.p.A. integrated Linkem Retail S.r.l., with the consequent transfer of the branch to the subsidiary Tiscali Italia S.p.A., while Linkem S.p.A. (now OpNet S.p.A.) became the majority shareholder of Tiscali S.p.A. (58.60%).[5][8]
After announcing it in October 2022, on 19 January 2023 the name of the parent company became Tessellis S.p.A., which will continue to operate under both the commercial brands Tiscali and Linkem.[3]
On February 2, 2024, Wind Tre signed an agreement for the acquisition of the assets, including the network infrastructure, of OpNet, which will be acquired 100% by Wind Tre together with all other subsidiaries, excluding Tessellis. On August 1, the transaction was completed.[9]
IPO
In October 1999 (during the dot-com bubble), the company went through an initial public offering (IPO) to be traded on the Italian Stock Exchange at a share price of 46 Euros. 3,098,000 shares were offered to investors of which 2,658,000 shares were created through a capital increase and the rest were sold by Soru. Soru made 20,240,000 Euros on the IPO. In 2012, the price per share had plummeted to 0.04 Euros.[citation needed]
Between 2001 and 2005,[10] shares were also traded on the French Stock Exchange. It was delisted from Paris Stock Exchange at the end of December 2005.
Operations
Beginning in 2004, Tiscali S.p.A. has carried out various purchase, sale and merger actions
On 16 August 2004, sold its Austrian branch, Tiscali Österreich GmbH, to Nextra Telecom GmbH.
On 31 January 2007, sold its German business to consumer activities to Freenet.de AG, at a sum of €30 million.[13] It later sold its business-to-business transactions on 5 February 2007 to Ecotel Communication AG, with future intentions to leave the German market altogether.[14]
On 11 October 2006, announced that it was to focus on the UK and Italy as its prime ISP targets, with plans to introduce new services to them including a mobile network operator and new IPTV products to the United Kingdom by its acquisition of HomeChoice.[16]
On 31 December 2008, shut down its IPTV service in Italy.[17]
On 27 May 2009, sold its International arm, Tinet B.V. to BS Private Equity S.p.A. firm.[18]
Tiscali published a self-branded Web browser of the same name which was distributed with its dial-up Internet packages. The browser used the core of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to display web pages. Distribution of the software ended during Tiscali's corporaterebranding in 2004.
Tiscali offered dial-up Internet access in Finland under service name Surfeu.
Tiscali Campus in Cagliari had 1,000 employees as of early 2013. The center includes a development division for Internet technologies. Researchers working there included Antonio Tuzzi (one of the developers of Apple's macOS), Luca Manunza (inventor of the first Webmail service), and Domenico Dato (developer of Arianna, the first Italian search engine).[22]
Tiscali Campus
Tiscali Campus
General information
Status
Completed
Location
Sa Illetta
Address
Strada Statale 195 Sulcitana km 2,3, 09123 Cagliari CA
It is located in the area of Sa Illetta, which was once a small island reachable only by boat, between the Cagliari pond and the State Road 195 "Sulcitana", an important artery of Southern Sardinia. Nearby is the church of San Simone, a riding school, the Ballero farm and the Porto Canale.
