Mobile Networks in Italy

Italy has four mobile networks: TIM, Vodafone, WindTre and Iliad. Every other brand you can buy a SIM from rents space on one of them, and in 2025 and 2026 several of those brands changed which one.

TIM, Vodafone and WindTre are the long-standing MNOs. Iliad arrived on 29 May 2018 as the fourth, built its own network, and still uses WindTre's where it has not finished building. The rest are MVNOs:

• On TIM: Kena Mobile and CoopVoce, plus PosteMobile and Lycamobile, which moved in 2026.
• On Vodafone: ho. Mobile, and Fastweb Mobile, which is moving across.
• On WindTre: Very Mobile and Spusu.

Brands that changed network

Swisscom completed its purchase of Vodafone Italia on 31 December 2024 and combined it with Fastweb. Fastweb Mobile customers began moving onto Vodafone's network from 25 April 2025, from the TIM and WindTre networks they used before. PosteMobile started moving from Vodafone to TIM on 23 February 2026, and Lycamobile followed from 28 July 2026. If your data dropped during a move, restart the phone and check that the APN is still set.

A guide that puts Lycamobile or PosteMobile on Vodafone is out of date.

MMS is fading

Kena Mobile ended MMS in November 2020, ho. Mobile says its SIMs do not support MMS, and WindTre has told customers who activated from 16 March 2026 that MMS is being progressively discontinued. TIM, Vodafone, Iliad, CoopVoce and PosteMobile still publish MMS settings, and their pages list them. Where MMS fails with the right settings, use RCS or a messenger such as WhatsApp.

Same masts, different APN

An Italian brand usually has its own APN rather than its host's. Kena on TIM needs web.kenamobile.it, not ibox.tim.it, and ho. on Vodafone needs web.ho-mobile.it, not mobile.vodafone.it. Vodafone itself uses three: mobile.vodafone.it for most Android phones, iphone.vodafone.it for iPhone and web.omnitel.it for tablets and hotspots.

eSIM and SIM registration

eSIM is sold by the main networks, and an eSIM line normally gets its settings during activation, so you rarely type the APN on one. Italy requires you to identify yourself when you register a SIM.

When data stops after a SIM swap, a reset or a new phone, check the APN first. Find your network above and copy its values exactly.