Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico S.p.A. (formerly Società Idroelettrica Piemontese S.p.A.), commonly known as SIP or SIPTEL, was the Italian state-owned telecommunications company, which dealt with public, fixed and mobile telephony.
In 1994 it became Telecom Italia S.p.A.
History
In 1964, the energy assets of Società Idroelettrica Piemontese (SIP), founded in 1918, was nationalized into Enel; it then acquired all of the Italian telephone companies, becoming Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico (SIP). It was run by the Italian Ministry of Finance.. SIP was a state monopoly from 1964 to 1996 and Italians were required to pay the "Canone Telecom," a line rental fee of approximately €120 per year., plus hardware rental and other minor costs) in order to have a phone at home.
On 27 July 1994, by the merger of several telecommunications companies among which SIP, IRITEL, Italcable, Telespazio