Better there Team public or private? Is it better to have an Italian-led or a foreign-led TIM? The stroke of genius of Poste Italiane that, by purchasing another 15% from the French of Vivendi, became the largest shareholder of the telephone company with 24% of the ordinary shares, immediately raising questions that are not new in the history of Telecom Italy, renamed a few years ago as Tim. Private or public management and Italian or foreign management? These are important questions but they cannot be answered with ideological prejudices. In the turbulent history of Telecom there have been excellent Italian and public managements such as when in the 80s Italian telecommunications were controlled by Stet led by that gentleman Julian Graziosi, wanted by the then Treasury Minister Nino Andreatta, or from Sip in the 90s where it stood out Tomaso Tommasi of Vignano, which after the privatization of Telecom was unfairly replaced by Gian Mario Rossignolo for an incorrect assessment of Umberto Agnelli, present with Ifil in the heart of the telephone company's command. Umberto Agnelli, who first created that jewel of Ifil and then had the great merit of discovering Sergio Marchionne, he was an enlightened and not sufficiently valued industrialist but that time he made a mistake.
The real troubles began with the Telecom debt takeover bid
But in the first Italian telecommunications group there were also private managements such as the one following theTelecom takeover bid di Roberto Colanino and of the Brescian financial adventurers of the Hopa of Chicco Gnutti of February 1999 which, under the pressure of the then Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema, got the telephone company into trouble by burdening it with the costs and debts of the acquisition operation. Just as there were opaque foreign managements such as that of the Spanish Telefonica and more recently of the French of Vivendi.
In reality, the facts will tell whether the Poste Italiane era will mark a rebirth of Tim or not, considering that today's Tim is not comparable to yesterday's Telecom, not because it changed its name but because it was forced to sell the network to manage a debt that had become suffocating and unsustainable. We will soon understand how things will go, but the evaluation criteria for the new course are very clear from now on and can be summarized in three essential points.
Tim, the Post Office and the three conditions that can mark a turning point
The arrival of Poste in the capital of Tim with a “long-term industrial shareholder role” will be successful and could mark a turning point in three conditions:
1) that Tim equips itself with a far-sighted and innovative industrial plan and management that is able to operate in a competitive landscape that is profoundly different from the past and that is able to position itself on the most advanced frontier of technologies by generously investing what there is to invest;
2) that the management of the company is governed by clear governance and entrusted to capable, innovative and reliable managers who are not lacking in both Tim and Poste and who may be supported by other professionals present on the market;
3) that the new Tim – this is the crucial and most important point – is managed independently from politics and does not tolerate interference in strategic choices which in the past, such as with the Telecom debt takeover bid, have only caused trouble.
If this is the path it follows, Tim – and with it its shareholders and stakeholders – will be able to reap the rewards it expects and the benefits will certainly flow to the entire Italian telecommunications system, even if the competitive context of the sector is extremely problematic.
