The Ministry of Communications was set up in 1924 as a
government ministry of the
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
, dealing with postal, telephone, telegraph and electronic communications, journalistic information and commercial advertising. Since the
Berlusconi IV Cabinet 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 and Buccari (; 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 the son of Raimondo Ciano and wife A ...
, founder of what was to become
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
(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 ag ...
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
Gruppo TIM, legally TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.), also known as the TIM Group in English, is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, (with the Telecom Italia Tower) which provides fixe ...
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 (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 ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...
.
The ministry reached its present-day configuration after the
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
, when the Prodi Government decided
[Law 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
See also
*
Ministry of Economic Development
*
Italian Government
The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President.
The Italian Constituti ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministry Of Communications (Italy)
Communications
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
Italy, Communications
1924 establishments in Italy
Ministries disestablished in 2008
2008 disestablishments in Italy