The Ministry of Communications was set up in 1924 as a

government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level Executive (government), executive bodies in the Machinery of government, machinery of governments that manage a specific se ...

of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

, dealing with postal, telephone, telegraph and electronic communications, journalistic information and commercial advertising. Since the

Berlusconi IV Cabinet The fourth Berlusconi government was the 60th Cabinet (government), government of Politics of Italy, Italy, in office from 8 May 2008 to 16 November 2011. It was the fourth government led by Silvio Berlusconi, who then became the longest-serving ...

of 2008 it has been incorporated into the Ministry of Economic Development.

History

The first Ministry of Communications was established on 30 April 1924, replacing the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs from the government of Mussolini. The first minister was

Costanzo Ciano Costanzo Ciano, 1st Count of Cortellazzo (; 30 August 1876 – 26 June 1939) was an Italian naval officer and politician. He was the father of Galeazzo Ciano. Biography Early life Born at Livorno, he was the son of Raimondo Ciano and his wife, ...

, founder of what was to become

RAI (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

(Radio-television Italia). The ministry was divided into two distinct divisions on 12 December 1944, with a

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

and a Ministry of Post and Telegraphs (later renamed the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications). In 1992 Italy underwent a period of telecommunication reform in which the responsibility for running telecommunications passed from direct state control to private control (of state holdings). This resulted in the establishment of

Telecom Italia TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples (with the Telecom Italia Tower), which provides fixed, public and mobile telephony, and DSL data services. It is ...

S.p.A. in 1994, after the reorganisation of the ministry for the second time. The period following resulted in large upheaval of the ministry, beginning in 1997 with the Autonomous Administration of Post and Telegraphs (an autonomous organ of the ministry) being incorporated into the

Poste Italiane Poste Italiane (, , abbr. PT) is the Italy, Italian postal service provider. Besides providing postal services, Poste Italiane offers communications, Postal savings system, postal savings products, logistics, and Financial services, financial a ...

(the Italian Post Office) as well as simultaneously being made a public entity. In the same year, the ministry was renamed to its original title, Ministry of Communications. Two years later, the ministry was incorporated into the Ministry of Productive Activities. The actual incorporation was to take place in 2001, but was stopped by the government of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

. The ministry reached its present-day configuration after the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, when the Prodi Government decidedLaw N.244, 2007, Italian Parliament to revert to the Bassanini Reform of 1999. This was finally implemented by Berlusconi, incorporating the Ministry of Communications into the Ministry of Economic Development (present day equivalent of Ministry of Productive Activities).

Organisation

The Ministry of Communications was organized as follows:

General Secretariat

* Directorate General for Human Resources Management * Directorate General for Electronic Communication Services and Broadcasting * Directorate General for Planning and Radio-electronic spectrum management * Directorate General for Resource Management * Directorate General for the Regulation of the Postal Sector * Institute of Communications and Information Technology * Territorial Inspectorates

Internal Organs

* Executive Committee for Broadband * Council for Communications * Commission for the Study and card processing postal stamps

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Communications (Italy)

Communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

Italy, Communications 1924 establishments in Italy Ministries disestablished in 2008 2008 disestablishments in Italy

History

Organisation

General Secretariat

Internal Organs

See also

References