SIP, la Societa Italiana per l’Esercizio Delle Telecomunicazioni, introduced new models of mobile telephones last week, and announced plans to extend the network. But mobile telephones in Italy are set to remain a luxury item, acording to Sergio Antociccio, president of ANUIT, the Italian telecommunications user group. Although SIP’s rates for mobile telephone calls are competitively priced compared with those in other European countries, he says that the users are paying high costs because of government-imposed taxes and additional charges of around 1m lire, $838m, per year. On top of that, only about 50% of the cost of mobile calls can be deducted from a company’s or individual’s tax return.
